An Israeli court on Monday sentenced Mordechai Vanunu, who in 2004 completed an 18-year prison term for spilling nuclear secrets, to six more months behind bars after he violated a ban on speaking to foreigners.
Israel has barred Vanunu from travelling abroad and monitored his movements since he left jail, alleging that he has more details on the Dimona atomic reactor to divulge. Vanunu denies that but says he will pursue anti-nuclear activities.
"I don't want to live here. I have the right to be free," Vanunu, 52, said after the sentencing at Jerusalem Magistrate's Court. "I want to be free and I want to leave."
The court, which also handed Vanunu a six-month suspended sentence, held off on jailing him to allow for appeals. Vanunu's lawyer, Michael Sfard, said he had until September 9 to decide on a course of action but hinted he might not fight the prison time.
Vanunu was jailed on treason charges in 1986 after giving an unauthorised interview to a British newspaper about his work as a mid-level Dimona technician. The disclosures all but blew away the secrecy around an assumed Israeli atomic arsenal.
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