VANUNU FREED: After 18 years imprisonment, 12 of them in solitary confinement, Mordechai Vanunu was yesterday set free from Shikma prison in Israeli coastal town of Askelon.

To the crowds that gathered outside the prison awaiting the release of the man whose whistleblowing exposed Israel has a major nuclear power, Vanunu spoke of "the cruel and barbaric treatment" he had received while in prison.

"To all those who are calling me a traitor, I am saying I am proud and happy to have done what I did," said Vanunu, who now faces draconian restrictions on his right of movement and of association. He has been banned from speaking to foreigners and is unlikely to be able to leave Israel in the foreseeable future, having been already presented with a map by his former captors marking those area of Israel were now off-limits. (photo: AP)

parent page (22 - 28 April 2004, issue #687)