PLEASE DISTRIBUTE TO SUPPORTIVE LISTS
In
this Alert:
NEWS RELEASE
ACTION TO TAKE
"I AM MORDECHAI
VANUNU. I'M PROUD AND HAPPY TO DO WHAT IDID."
FOR IMMEDIATE
RELEASE
April 21, 2004
Contact:
Jack Cohen-Joppa
U.S. Campaign
to Free Mordechai Vanunu
520-323-8697; call for Israel mobile
#s.
With these words to the world, Israel's captive declared
hisfreedom
today, after 18 years of "cruel and barbaric" treatment inprison
for
telling the truth about Israel's secret nuclear arsenal
At 11 am,
Vanunu walked out the door into Shikma prison's entry yard. A
roar erupted
from hundreds of demonstrators outside the locked
maingate. Supporters
at the gate were jostled by detractors behind,
someshouting "Kill
Vanunu!"
Moving deliberately past the press, surrounded and trailed
by
assortedofficials and guards, Vanunu walked to the gate. Holding
both
handshigh with the signs of victory and peace, he stepped up, onto
the
barsto see and acknowledge his supporters.
His brothers Asher and
Meir, and Meir's young son Luca, had
accompaniedVanunu out the door, and
rejoined him as he returned to the
forest ofcameras and
microphones.
Vanunu made a statement in English. I have no more
secrets to tell;
Iwant to leave Israel but they are restricting me. My
treatment
wascruel and barbaric; I was punished hard because I am
became
aChristian. I am a symbol of survival of the human spirit of
freedom. I
don't want to harm Israel. Open the Dimona reactor for
inspection. I
want to go to the United States and marry and have a
life.
Vanunu then responded to questions for several minutes as Meir
nudgedhim
to quit repeatedly. Given the extreme restrictions placed
onVanunu's
actions, Meir looked concerned that his brother might talkhimself
back
into prison.
Asked about being a hero, Vanunu replied, "All those
who stood behindme
and who supported me for 18 years are the
heroes."
Vanunu made a point to speak of his kidnapping in Italy, and to
saythat
a photo of the woman reported to be "Cindy" was not the
femaleMossad
agent who lured him to Rome in September 1986.
And he
told the press, "I want President Bush, and Tony Blair,
GerhardtSchroeder,
and Putin to [work] for my release from Israel."
Before getting into a
car, Mordechai Vanunu said he was going to
St.George's Anglican Church in
Jerusalem to give thanks to God.
- end -
Still to come...
- New
address for writing letters of support to
Mordechai
=================
2. Action to Take
These
restrictions on Vanunu's freedom are intolerable. They abusehis
human
rights to the point of endangering his life.
Please vigorously protest these
restrictions and express your concernfor
Mordechai Vanunu with faxed letters
and telephone calls to theIsraeli
Embassy in your country.
Washington,
DC
Political Department
Tel: (202)364-5581, 5582
Fax:
(202)364-5490
Press Office
Tel: (202) 364-5538
Fax: (202)
364-5610
Ottawa, Canada
Tel. (613)567-6450
Fax:
(613)237-8865
London, United Kingdom
Tel: 0207 957 9500
Fax: 0207
957 955
E-mail: [log in to unmask]
=================
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-
END -
Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket
fired
signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are
not
fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. This world in arms is
not
spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its labourers, the
genius
of its scientists, the hopes of its children.
Dwight D.
Eisenhower 1953
