“SHAME ON INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY FOR ITS SILENCE ON MORDECHAI VANUNU’S SILENCING AND IMPRISONMENT WITHIN ISRAEL”

- PRESS RELEASE 8 Dec 2005

THE NOBEL COMMITTEE IN OSLO, ON 10th DECEMBER, 2005, WILL AWARD THIS YEAR’S NOBEL PEACE PRIZE TO MOHAMED ELBARADEI, CHAIRMAN OF THE INTERNATIONAL ATOMIC ENERGY AGENCY.

AL-BARADEI ACTED IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE AGENCY’S DECISION TO TIGHTEN THE SUPERVISION OF IRAN IN ORDER TO ENSURE THAT IT DID NOT DEVELOP NUCLEAR WEAPONS, BUT FAILED TO INITIATE INTERNATIONAL PRESSURE ON ISRAEL TO ENTER INTO A REGIME OF DISARMAMENT AND INSPECTION, KNOWING FULL WELL THAT ISRAEL IS A NUCLEAR POWER WITH AN ARSENAL OF HUNDREDS OF ATOMIC AND HYDROGEN BOMBS.

ALONGSIDE THIS OMISSION HE FOLLOWS THE POLICY OF THE ATOMIC ENERGY AGENCY MAKING NO STRUGGLE FOR THE DISMANTLING OF THE NUCLEAR ARSENALS OF THE USA, RUSSIA, BRITAIN, FRANCE, CHINA, AND OTHER NUCLEAR POWERS.

I WAS DISAPPOINTED IN THIS CHOICE FOR THE NOBEL PEACE PRIZE.

THE NOBEL COMMITTEE HAD ANOTHER CANDIDATE FOR THE PRIZE WHOM, I BELIEVE, THEY SHOULD HAVE RECOGNIZED. MORDECHAI VANUNU, 20 YEARS AGO (1986) TOLD THE TRUTH TO THE WORLD THAT ISRAEL HAD A NUCLEAR WEAPONS PROGRAMME AND TO THIS DAY HE IS A PRISONER IN ISRAEL UNABLE TO LEAVE THE COUNTRY AND FORBIDDEN BY THE ISRAELI GOVERNMENT TO SPEAK OR MEET WITH FOREIGNERS.

FOR TELLING THE TRUTH ABOUT THE ISRAELI NUCLEAR PROGRAMME, VANUNU WAS IMPRISONED IN AN ISRAELI PRISON FOR 18 YEARS, 12 OF WHICH WERE IN SOLITARY CONFINEMENT. UPON RELEASE AFTER COMPLETING HIS ENTIRE 18 YEARS THE ISRAELI GOVERNMENT CRUELLY AND ILLEGALLY IMPOSED RESTRICTIONS ON HIM AND HAVE CONTINUED TO DO SO FOR THESE PAST TWO YEARS.

THESE RESTRICTONS ARE DUE FOR REVIEW ON 21st APRIL, 2006, AND COULD WELL BE RUBBER STAMPED FOR THE THIRD YEAR RUNNING.

(ON 15TH JANUARY, 2006 HE WILL APPEAR AGAIN BEFORE AN ISRAELI COURT CHARGED WITH 21 OFFENCES OF SPEAKING AND MEETING WITH FOREIGNERS, WHICH ISRAEL HAS SAID HE IS NOT ALLOWED TO DO).

HE COULD BE PUT INTO PRISON AGAIN FOR SPEAKING TO FOREIGNERS.

WHAT OTHER ALLEGEDLY DEMOCRATIC COUNTRY IN THE WORLD COULD GET AWAY WITH DENYING THE RIGHT OF ITS CITIZENS TO EXERCISE HIS/HER FREEDOM OF SPEECH OR MOVEMENT?

AND YET THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY AND MAIN STREAM MEDIA REMAIN SILENT.

20 YEARS AGO MORDECHAI WAS KIDNAPPED IN (BY MOSSAD AGENTS) AND RENDERED FROM ITALY, AND YET THE ITALIAN GOVERNMENT REMAINS TO THIS DAY SILENT.

THE UNITED NATIONS, THE NORWEGIAN AND BRITISH GOVERNMENTS (BOTH OF WHOM SUPPLIED HEAVY WATER WHICH ENABLED ISRAEL TO MAKE THEIR FIRST NUCLEAR WEAPONS) REMAIN SILENT ABOUT THE SUFFERING AND PERSECUTION OF MORDECHAI VANUNU, AS DO IRELAND AND OTHER GOVERNMENTS.

THE QESTION TO BE ASKED IS “IS THERE ANY WORLD BODY OR GOVERNMENT WHO HAS THE COURAGE TO DEMAND THAT ISRAEL FREE MORDECHAI VANUNU, THE WORLD’S LEADING ANTI-NUCLEAR VOICE TO WHOM WE SHOULD ALL BE GRATEFUL, AND WHOSE SACRIFICE SHOULD BE RECOGNIZED BY THE NOBEL COMMITTEE AND THE WORLD COMMUNITY?."

-MAIREAD CORRIGAN MAGUIRE (NOBEL PEACE PRIZE 1976)
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