Israeli nuclear whistleblower Mordechai Vanunu was freed yesterday after serving an 18-year prison term for revealing secrets that exposed Israel as one of the world's top atomic powers.
Flashing V-for-victory signs as he walked through the gates of Ashkelon's Shikma prison, Vanunu stood defiantly before a bank of TV cameras and proclaimed: "I am proud and happy to do what I did."
The 49-year-old nuclear technician was greeted by throngs of cheering supporters who hailed him as a "peace hero" while a number of counter-demonstrators branded him a traitor.
Vanunu said he had suffered "cruel and barbaric treatment" at the hands of Israel's security services but insisted he had no more state secrets to divulge.
Fearing Vanunu could reveal more classified information, the government put him under close police surveillance and slapped restrictions on his movements, including a one-year ban on travel abroad.
"Israel doesn't need nuclear arms, especially now that all the Middle East is free from nuclear arms ... My message today to all the world is open the Dimona reactor for inspections," he said.
Vanunu leaked pictures and details of the top-secret Dimona reactor where he had worked to Britain's Sunday Times in 1986, leading independent experts to conclude that Israel had amassed from 100 to 200 nuclear warheads.
His disclosures parted the veil on Israel's policy of "strategic ambiguity" about its nuclear program and its cryptic pledge that it would not be the first to introduce atomic weapons to the Middle East.
A blonde, female agent of Israel's Mossad spy agency lured Vanunu from London to Rome, where he was abducted and brought home. He was convicted of treason and sentenced to 18 years in prison, much of it spent in solitary confinement.
Vanunu said he wanted to leave Israel, where resentment against him runs so deep that his brother has voiced fears for his safety. He has many supporters overseas, where international peace activists have regularly nominated him for the Nobel Peace Prize.
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