A Jerusalem district court postponed until next week its decision on an appeal by Mordechai Vanunu to lift punitive measures taken against him by his jailers.
The former technician at the Dimona nuclear facility, on trial for selling information about Israel’s alleged nuclear capabilities to a British newspaper, is in the 28th day of a hunger strike to protest his treatment.
The court said it would rule next week on Vanunu’s request that he be allowed to meet privately with his American woman friend, Judy Zimet. She visited him Sunday but he refused to see her under the conditions imposed by prison authorities. The latter insisted they communicate through a plate glass window by exchanging notes which would be read first by a censor.
Vanunu has also asked for reading material and to see a priest. He converted to the Christian faith in Australia. The court said it would take those requests into consideration.
Punishment was imposed on Vanunu after he flashed a message to the media, while being driven to court, alleging that Israeli agents had kidnapped him in Rome last September 30.
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