The man who embarrassed the Israeli establishment by revealing the existence of a plant for manufacturing nuclear bombs has been convicted of talking. He risks a further jail sentence after spending 18 years in jail for telling the world about the Dimona plant.
Mordechai Vanunu spent more than half that 18 year sentence in solitary confinement. He had been kidnapped from Rome where he had been lured by a Mossad "honey trap". Drugged, he was then "renditioned" to Israel to stand trial in 1986.
After serving his full sentence, he was eventually released in 2004. He is banned by military decree from speaking to foreign reporters. He is also banned from leaving the country, despite his desire to live in either the USA or Europe. Despite his revelations, successive Israeli governments still maintain the "don't confirm, don't deny" stance.
Vanunu was convicted of violating a military order and his sentencing hearing is set for May 18.
His lawyer called it intolerable to convict a person for the mere act of speaking, never mind whatever was said.
A sentencing hearing is set for 18 May. Vanunu is banned from leaving Israel.
"We should be clear here that Vanunu was convicted for the very act of speaking to non-Israelis, rather than the content of those conversations," lawyer Michel Sfard said.
"We do not consider this appropriate for a democracy in the 21st Century."
It is incredibly hard to envisage what information that might be useful to an enemy Vanunu might have 20 years after he last worked at Dimona yet the position of the Israeli government appears to be that he a threat. That as the position of the Israeli Attorney General just before his release from prison in 2004.
Attorney General Mordechai Mazuz said restrictions should be placed on him to stop him revealing further information.
However, he ruled out keeping Mr Vanunu in custody after he had completed his prison term.
Mr Mazuz told the law committee of the Israeli parliament, the Knesset, that despite the danger of further disclosures, he opposed putting Mr Vanunu under administrative detention.
In an summary of his case in 2004, the BBC hinted at one reason that Vanunu might cause the Israeli government problems if he were to go on the interview circuit after leaving Israel.
His information, which was verified by experts in the nuclear field, also indicated that Dimona was capable of producing much more weapons-grade plutonium than previously thought.
According to him, the plant had been upgraded several times to increase production of plutonium and in 1985 could make 1.2 kg per week, enough for up to 12 nuclear warheads a year.
Israel's estimated nuclear capability had to be revised from a handful of weapons to approximately 100-200 warheads, ranging from battlefield weapons to warheads that could lay waste whole cities.
He also recounted stories of how US experts allowed to inspect the site in the 1960s had been tricked by false walls and concealed lifts so they did not even realise the six underground floors at Machon 2 existed.
Maybe tho his radical anti-nuclear position is not the problem but his rejection of Judaism and adoption of both Christianity and the Palestinian cause. This was part of his message to supporters who staged a protest bike ride in Britain this month.
First we the people are saying "end Nuclear Weapons in Israel and in all the world."
So the message is the people of this new century want to see the world free from all Nuclear Weapons.
The second message is about peace here in Palestine. The time has come to end the occupation, to end the Palestinians’ suffering in refugee camps. So you are bringing the message of freedom and disarmament.