The restrictions that the Israeli government intends to impose on
Prisoner of Conscience Dr. Mordechai Vanunu, a candidate for the
Nobel Peace Prize, after his release, as have appeared in the Israeli
press, constitute an intolerable, unjustified and arbitrary violation of
basic human rights, including freedom of movement and freedom of
expression. The restrictions and prohibitions which the Sharon-Lapid
government intends to impose characterize tyrannical regimes, and it
is not surprising that the order was signed by the Homeland Defense
Commander, based on the Draconian State of Emergency Regulations,
the legacy of the British Mandate. We wish to remind the public, that
former Prime Minister Menachem Begin and two former Justice
Ministers, Yakov Shimshon Shapira and Dov Yosef, denounced the
regulations as being Nazi in nature.

Dr. Mordechai Vanunu, who was kidnapped nearly 18 years ago in a
terrorist act of the Israeli government, should not have spent one day
behind bars. He fulfilled his civil duty when he revealed, by means of
the free press, information about the manufacture of nuclear weapons
in Israel, information that was and is of importance to every citizen. By
doing so, Vanunu exercised the democratic principle of the publics
right to know.

However, once Vanunu completes the entire prison term to which he
was sentenced, his rights as a free citizen must be respected. The
restrictions which the Israeli government intends to impose on Vanunu
are a continuation of the mistreatment that began at the moment he
was kidnapped.

We strongly denounce and protest the continued harassment of Dr.
Mordechai Vanunu by the Israeli Authorities and call on all people of
conscience, in Israel and around the world, to join the struggle to lift all
of these restrictions.

We hope, that judges who are committed to human rights are to be
found within the Israeli justice establishment, who will declare these
restrictions to be illegal, and who will enable the soon-to-be released
Prisoner of Conscience to live as a free person wherever he chooses.

On April 20-21 Mordechai Vanunus supporters will gather outside
Shikma Prison in Ashkelon. Details about these events will be
publicized close to the dates.

The Israeli Committee for Mordechai Vanunu and for a Middle East
Free of Atomic, Biological and Chemical Weapons
PO Box 7323, Jerusalem, Tel. 02-6254530, 051-368236
The International Campaign to Free Mordechai Vanunu
 freevanunu@mindspring.com, www.vanunu.com, www.vanunu.co.uk