Middle East
ISRAEL
Convict's Convictions
Mordechai Vanunu, imprisoned in solitary confinement since 1986 for leaking secrets to a British newspaper about Israel's nuclear weapons program, has filed a request in Beersheba District Court asking to be moved to an area of the prison housing Arab inmates, reports Israel's liberal Ha'aretz.
Vanunu argued that as a Christian-he converted prior to his imprisonment-he is not "suited to the Jewish area of the prison," says Ha'aretz. He charged that ever since he was granted privileges to mingle with other inmates, the General Security Services (GSS, or Shin Bet) had sent Jewish inmates to harass and "brainwash" him. "A Jewish prisoner came to bring me a cup of wine for Shabbat, I poured out the cup, and the warden got upset with me as if I were offending the religion," Vanunu related.
According to Ha'aretz, prison authorities had rejected Vanunu's initial transfer request on orders from the GSS. The Beersheba court has postponed its decision on the matter.
