An indictment was submitted on Sunday against Mordechai Vanunu, the spy who leaked secrets on Israel’s nuclear weapons program in Dimona back in the 1980s to British media, charging him with severe breaches of the terms of his release in 2004.
The indictment charges Vanunu, a former technician in the Dimona nuclear plant, with repeatedly breaching the conditions of his release, which ban him from leaving Israel or giving out any classified information he received during his work in the nuclear research facility.
Vanunu – who converted to Christianity, changed his name to John Crossman and renounced all ties to his people while in prison – was given the strict release conditions upon his release over fears he would disclose further secrets.
But despite the terms, back in September 2015 he gave an interview to Channel 2, and according to the indictment he gave them classified information that the censor forbid from being broadcast by the station. Vanunu was rearrested after the interview.
In addition, Vanunu did not inform the police 48 hours in advance of his intentions to move into a new apartment.
In September 2014 he moved to a different apartment in the same building in Jerusalem where he lived, but did not report to the police as required by his release conditions.
The indictment likewise noted that Vanunu met with two foreign citizens from the US in an apartment in eastern Jerusalem, even though he knew they were foreign citizens and his conditions forbid him from meeting with them.
His discussion with the two foreigners he met in the international book store at the American Colony Hotel led Vanunu to be detained by security forces.
Vanunu was caught in a Mossad honey trap operation which lured him from London to Italy, where he was captured and transported via boat to stand trial in Israel.
He was sentenced to 18 years in prison in 1986, much of it in solitary confinement, on charges of treason and espionage for revealing details of Israel’s nuclear program to the British media.
When he was released in 2004, he expressed no remorse for his treacherous actions.