Exposer of Israel's secrets goes free

ASHKELON, Israel - Mordechai Vanunu walked out of prison on Wednesday, 18 years after exposing Israel's nuclear secrets, and immediately defied Israeli restrictions by speaking with international media to demand the Jewish state open its reactor to international inspection.

Vanunu, 50, flashed victory signs and briefly climbed on the gate of Shikma Prison to wave to dozens of cheering antinuclear activists. In his first hours of freedom, the Christian convert sought refuge in a Jerusalem church where he was embraced by clergy and received communion.

Vanunu was a low-level technician at Israel's nuclear reactor in Dimona before he gave descriptions and photos of the plant to the Sunday Times of London in 1986. Using his information, experts said Israel had the world's sixth-largest stockpile of nuclear weapons.

Vanunu's arrest came about with the help of a spy for Mossad who later became a Realtor in Orlando. Cheryl Hanin, an agent of Israel's crack intelligence service at the time, posed as an American tourist and lured Vanunu from London to Rome. There, other agents drugged him, chained him and shipped him back to Israel to stand trial for treason.

His revelations and imprisonment made him a hero to international peace activists, and dozens of supporters, including British actor Susannah York and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Mairead Corrigan Maguire of Northern Ireland, greeted him upon his release.

Israelis view Vanunu as a traitor, and groups of angry protesters gathered at the prison in the coastal town of Ashkelon to curse at him.

During his impromptu news conference in the sunny prison courtyard, Vanunu implored Israel to end its nuclear program.

"Israel doesn't need nuclear weapons, especially now that all the Middle East is free from nuclear weapons," he said. "My message today to all the world is, open the Dimona reactor for inspection."

Because Israel is not party to the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, the International Atomic Energy Agency has no power to look into its nuclear program. The U.N. agency, however, is seeking dialogue with Israel, and its director, Mohamed ElBaradei, has called for talks on establishing a weapons of mass destruction "free zone" in the Middle East.

Vanunu said he hoped to move to the United States and study and teach history. However, the Israeli restrictions prevent him from traveling abroad for at least a year.

How did a former Orlando Realtor help capture Mordechai Vanunu? Read Susan Taylor Martin's story, "The spy - and the man she busted,". http://www.sptimes.com/2004/03/21/Worldandnation/The_spy___and_the_man.shtml

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