Vanunu wants to relinquish citizenship

Convicted nuclear spy state he 'cannot find his place in Israeli society'; asks High Court to order Interior Ministry to revoke his Israeli citizenship

Aviad Glickman|Published: 07.14.11 , 15:54

Convicted nuclear spy Mordechai Vanunu appealed to the High Court of Justice Thursday asking the Bench to instruct Interior Minister Eli Yishai to revoke his Israeli citizenship.

Vanunu claims that "the Israeli street" and media are treating him belligerently, and that he can no longer "find his place in Israeli society".

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In the appeal, Attorney Avigdor Feldman said that "despite having paid his debt to society, my client in still hounded by the media and the public, who refer to him as the 'atom spy' and a 'traitor,' as well as numerous other derogatory nicknames, which we will not mention here. Therefore, the plaintiff no longer feels he had a place in Israeli society.

Vanunu further claimed the despite his release from prison seven years ago, "The State of Israel continued to penalize him by imposing various restrictions on his person and travels."

The petition states that this is not the first time Vanunu has sought to relinquish his citizenship: "A similar petition was filed in 1998, while (Vanunu) was still in jail… but the interior minister said he could not revoke his citizenship while he does not have another one."

According to the petition, recent amendments to the Citizenship Act allow Yishai to revoke Vanunu's Israeli citizenship at this time, despite the fact that he has no other citizenship.

"Revoking the plaintiff's Israeli citizenship will allow him to seek the citizenship, or permanent residency, of a European country which has good relations with Israel," said the petition.