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Nuclear Whistleblower Mordechai Vanunu standing outside a Jerusalem courthouse last year. (Tomer Appelbaum)
Last update - 15:32 11/04/2008
Israeli nuclear whistleblower Vanunu seeks asylum in Norway
By Reuters
Tags: Israel nuclear 

OSLO - Israeli nuclear whistleblower Mordechai Vanunu has asked for asylum in Norway for a second time, Norwegian officials said on Friday, but they held out no hope that he would be accepted.

Vanunu, whom Israeli authorities have barred from leaving Israel, sent his application directly to Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg. His first asylum application to Norway in 2004 was rejected.

"We received it yesterday and it has been sent to the Ministry of Labor and Social Inclusion, which will handle it," a spokeswoman for the Norwegian prime minister's office said.
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Vanunu was convicted of treason and imprisoned for 18 years after telling a British newspaper in 1986 about his work as a technician at Israel's main atomic reactor, disclosures which cracked the secrecy around the assumed Israeli nuclear arsenal.

He was released from prison in 2004 but has not been allowed to leave Israel. In 2007, Vanunu was sentenced to six months in prison for violating the terms of his parole.

The Norwegian daily Dagsavisen on Friday cited an Israeli diplomat as saying that giving Vanunu asylum would be considered interference in Israel's internal affairs and a "sign of the generally anti-Israeli sentiment in Norway."

Israel neither confirms nor denies having the Middle East's only nuclear weapons under a policy of "strategic ambiguity."

Declared a prisoner of conscience by Amnesty International, Vanunu has been mentioned as a possible recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize, which is granted annually in Oslo. He was nominated in 2004 by Irish Nobel Peace Prize winner Mairead Corrigan.

Vanunu renewed his application to Norway after reports in Norwegian media said that the minister of local government in the previous center-right government overrode the immigration authority in 2004 to reject his application.

Minister of Labor and Social Inclusion Bjoern Haakon Hanssen said on Thursday that asylum cannot be granted to someone who does not reside in Norway and it was "not timely" to consider him for refugee status since he cannot leave Israel.

"This government has on repeated occasions taken up the Vanunu case in international connections, among others, at the foreign minister level," Hanssen said in a statement. "The government has said that we expect Vanunu to be treated with respect for human rights and not subject to violations."

The University of Tromsoe in north Norway granted Vanunu an honorary doctorate in 2000 and its rector said on Thursday he would be willing to give Vanunu a job.

Related articles:
  • Nuclear whistleblower Vanunu appeals jail term for foreign ties
  • Vanunu to return to prison for violating the terms of his parole
  • Vanunu convicted of violating order barring foreign contacts
  • Vanunu mania
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      1.   wrong country 17:03  |  peter 11/04/08
      2.   he loves to be in the spotlight & hates Israel nothing more 17:15  |  zionist forever 11/04/08
      3.   he did his time 17:35  |  Sabra 11/04/08
      4.   Why Norway 18:37  |  Tim 11/04/08
      5.   No, he *didn`t* do his time 19:27  |  Gili 11/04/08
      6.   Lock him up and throw away keys 20:00  |  rich 11/04/08
      7.   Norway because.. 20:06  |  TB 11/04/08
      8.   Vanunu is lucky he wasn`t executed for treason 20:38  |  Raymond from DC 11/04/08
      9.   missing as usual 21:26  |  Axel 11/04/08
      10.   Let him go already. His prison term is over. 21:26  |  Natallie Durson 11/04/08
      11.   Vanunu is no prisoner of conscience 22:54  |  Slibovitz 11/04/08
      12.   set him free already 22:55  |  kay 11/04/08
      13.   Tim 23:00  |  kay 11/04/08
      14.   #4 - Tim 23:26  |  Walkabout1 11/04/08
      15.   A job in a university 00:40  |  Garry 12/04/08
      16.   To #11 There is no contradiction 01:32  |  Ulf 12/04/08
      17.   #3 Sabra 01:55  |  MR 12/04/08
      18.   #1 peter 01:58  |  MR 12/04/08
      19.   To give Asylum is an old right of states 03:08  |  Fritz T. 12/04/08
      20.   Nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize... 07:45  |  Silvienne 12/04/08
      21.   Raymond from DC 07:48  |  Marilyn 12/04/08
      22.   Had his name been Tennebaum or Klingler he`d be free by now 08:19  |  Sima 12/04/08
      23.   Whatever happened to "Jewish Honesty" (HA HA) 09:25  |  Israel_is_Done 12/04/08
      24.   Norway can have him 10:39  |  Linichka 12/04/08
      25.   #7 Raymond of DC 13:34  |  Stephen of New York, 12/04/08
      26.   Israel likes to shoot itself in the foot 14:25  |  chelemer 12/04/08
      27.   Mordechai Vanunu exposed Israel`s deceit 14:46  |  Ben Alofs 12/04/08
      28.   To Raymond from DC 15:39  |  Zain 12/04/08
      29.   Right country 16:09  |  Shameful Norwedian 12/04/08
      30.   #7 J. Pollard is lucky not to be executed ... 16:25  |  American 12/04/08
      31.   he belongs under house arrest forever, never to be freed 17:28  |  ralph 12/04/08
      32.   Why does Israeli paper call him "whistblower"? Word is traitor 17:59  |  McQueen 12/04/08
      33.   Job in University? 18:56  |  D 12/04/08
      34.   To McQueen #28 19:01  |  Northern 12/04/08
      35.   #28 The difference between a whistleblower and a traitor 19:25  |  Ben Alofs 12/04/08
      36.   Vanunu 04:17  |  eileen fleming 15/04/08
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