Israeli court confirms ban on journalist visiting Israel

The Israeli High Court today confirmed a lower court's ban on British journalist Peter Hounam from entering the country to interview freed nuclear technician Mordechai Vanunu, who disclosed details of Israel's nuclear weaponry to him in 1986. The Jerusalem district court had approved on 6 July the government's decision and Hounam, of Britain's Sunday Times, appealed against the ruling. Interior minister Avraham Poraz banned Hounam on 20 June, saying the journalist would use his visit, in connection with a BBC documentary on Vanunu, to reveal classified information that would harm national security. ---------------------------------------------------------------- 7 July 2004 Peter Hounam declared persona non grata An Israeli court on 6 July confirmed the decision of interior minister, Avraham Poraz, declaring British journalist Peter Hounam persona non grata in Israel. The Sunday Times correspondent who was arrested on 26 May by Israeli secret services in Jerusalem was questioned for 24 hours and then expelled. The Jerusalem district court decided on 6 July that the Israeli government's 20 June decision "not to let the appellant back in to Israel is not unreasonable". The minister had decided at the time that Hounam, who was making a documentary for the BBC about Mordechai Vanunu, should not be allowed to return to the country because he could be tempted to divulge information that could damage Sate security. Hounam and the Sunday Times had appealed to the Israeli courts to overturn the minister's ruling. The newspaper believed that Hounam had been abiding by the restrictions on Vanunu. Hounam published Vanunu's revelations about the Israeli nuclear arsenal in the Sunday Times in 1986. The British journalist's lawyer; Michael Sfard, told Reuters that the verdict looked more like an attack on press freedom than a supposed desire to preserve Israeli national security. He said that he would appeal to Israel's Supreme Court. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 28 May 2004 Sunday Times journalist released and expelled Peter Hounam was released on May 27 from a prison in the centre of Jerusalem where he had been interrogated by the Shin Beth, Israel's domestic security services, for suspected spying in connection with his links to Mordechai Vanunu. Hounam told the many journalists waiting outside the prison that he had been prevented from contacting his wife and from sleeping for more than two hours. He was expelled from Israel on May 28. Police escorted him to Tel Aviv's Ben Gurion airport and put him on a flight to London. A senior security official said he would henceforth be banned from visiting Israel. The Shin Beth confiscated a video recording of an interview with Vanunu from him. It was made by an Israeli in order to circumvent the ban on Vanunu having any contact with foreign journalists. The Israeli media have said that Hounam, who is making a documentary about Vanunu for the BBC, is suspected of planning to make new revelations about Israel's nuclear weapons. ________________________________________________________ 27 May 2004 Reporters without borders calls for immediate release of Sunday Times journalist Peter Hounam Reporters Without Borders protested at the arrest from his hotel room of British journalist Peter Hounam of the Sunday Times, who in 1986, wrote an article on Israeli nuclear secrets, based on revelations by atomic technician Mordechai Vanunu. The international press freedom organisation demanded an explanation from the Israeli authorities for this surprising arrest, complaining of official silence on the reasons for it and on where the journalist was being held. "We are perturbed by this arrest which seems to have a direct link with Peter Hounam's work on Mordechai Vanunu. The Israeli authorities seem prepared to go to any lengths to stifle news on the nuclear issue in Israel. This arrest and the blackout that followed it are serious violations of press freedom. We await your explanations," it said. Hounam was arrested on the evening of 26 May 2004 in Jerusalem when plainclothes officers and members of the security services turned up at his hotel room. His arrest was confirmed by a spokesperson for the prime minister but the government and the Jerusalem district court imposed a gagging order on the case. The 60-year-old journalist had gone to Jerusalem to write an article about the release of Vanunu on 21 April and was preparing a documentary on him for the BBC. Vanunu was sentenced in 1986 to 18 years in prison for "treason" and "espionage" after the Sunday Times carried his revelations about Israeli nuclear armament. Under the terms of his release he was banned from meeting foreigners without prior authorisation or speaking to the media about his work at the Dimona nuclear reactor.