On 16 February I blogged that the union had agreed to back a campaign of support for Mordechai Vanunu, an honorary member of the NUJ, who served 18 years in prison for revealing Israel’s secret nuclear programme to the Sunday Times in 1986.
Earlier this week, Israel’s supreme court ordered nuclear whistleblower Mordechai Vanunu back to jail for three months after he refused to do community service in west Jerusalem for fear of harassment. After having already served 18 years in prison, earlier this year a Jerusalem court convicted Vanunu and sentenced him to three months in jail or community service for meeting with a foreigner in violation of the terms of his release. Vanunu asked the supreme court if he could perform the community service in Arab east Jerusalem, saying he feared he would be “harassed by the Israeli population” in the west of the city. The supreme court rejected the argument, saying suitable work had been found in west Jerusalem.