JERUSALEM (JTA) — Mordechai Vanunu, who served 18 years in prison for leaking Israel’s nuclear secrets, is going back to jail.
Vanunu, who was released in 2004, will return to jail for three months after refusing to perform community service for contacting a foreigner without authorization, a violation of his parole. He was arrested last December for an alleged meeting with a Norwegian national.
A panel of Israeli Supreme Court justices decided Tuesday to return Vanunu to prison after the former technician at the Dimona nuclear plant was denied his request to serve his community service in Arab eastern Jerusalem. He told the judges that he worried about being attacked in western Jerusalem by angry Israelis.
Vanunu was jailed in Israel for discussing details of his work as a Dimoa technician with the British newspaper the Sunday Times of London. He reportedly revealed Israeli nuclear secrets and gave the newspaper photographs of the plant’s operation.
Under the terms of his parole, Vanunu also is prohibited from leaving the country or approaching foreign embassies.
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