BBC to air Vanunu interview on Sunday

The report did not disclose who conducted the interview, which will be broadcast as part of the news network's This World program.

In the interview, Vanunu apparently reiterates information he has already stated, claiming he turned to the international press in order to warn the world of Israel's nuclear program which could lead to another Holocaust, the radio reported.

Vanunu reportedly states in the interview that his actions did not constitute treason against Israel.

The interview will be the first to be aired since Vanunu was released from an Israeli prison on April 21, after serving an 18-year sentence. It was reportedly attained with the aid of an Israeli intermediary.

Shin Bet: Tape of Vanunu interview may already have left the country
The Shin Bet security service admitted Thursday that copies of a videotaped interview given by Vanunu to a local journalist on Saturday may already have been smuggled out of Israel, and that it had failed in its task of preventing this from happening.

The videotape was the main reason for the controversial detention of British journalist Peter Hounam, who was released Thursday night, after being held in custody for 24 hours. The Shin Bet claims that Yael Lotan, a leftist activist who conducted the videotaped interview, was "a front for Peter Hounam and the BBC team."

However, the Shin Bet added, its initial investigation indicates that the interview did not violate the limitations set on Vanunu's activities upon his release from prison last month.

The Shin Bet attempted Thursday to justify its decision to detain Hounam, calling the journalist "a central source of risk for an information leak." The organization made extraordinary efforts to explain its position, with the deputy head of the service meeting with foreign correspondents at a Tel Aviv hotel Thursday night to brief them on the Shin Bet's version of events.

The detention of Hounam, who broke Vanunu's account of the Dimona atomic program in 1980s, evoked vigorous criticism from journalists, politicians and human rights groups.

The Shin Bet said it had warned Vanunu's brother, Meir, that Vanunu was not to meet with foreign parties without prior permission, yet Vanunu met with Hounam a number of times. As for the interview, the Shin Bet said, "we had to know what was on the tape, and we had no other way of doing so except by detaining and interrogating [Hounam]."

On Thursday, the Shin Bet also detained producer Chris Mitchell, who works for a company hired by the BBC to produce a film about Vanunu, at Ben-Gurion International Airport. Mitchell and his crew have been in Israel since Vanunu's release, documenting the affair. In a search at the airport, Shin Bet operatives confiscated a number of tapes from Mitchell.

Hounam: Israel should be ashamed for arresting me
After his release Thursday night, Hounam told reporters outside the Jerusalem lockup that Israel should be ashamed for arresting him, complaining of being kept overnight in solitary confinement in a "dungeon with excrement on the walls" and limited to "two hours of sleep."

Hounam said he was questioned for more than four hours by Israeli security, without being charged. He said he was detained on suspicion of espionage, but during the interrogation, the Shin Bet admitted it made a mistake in its investigation.

"I really have to question the standards in this country," he said. "This is a country which prides itself on being a democracy in the Middle East, and yet what I've experienced in the last 24 hours I'm afraid doesn't stand up to that."

Hounam was released with no restrictions and left the country on Friday afternoon.

Hounam told Haaretz before he left that he does not hate Israel, and that he hoped the lessons from this affair would be learned and that he could return to visit Israel.

Attorney General Menachem Mazuz ordered Hounam's release, following a meeting between officials from the Shin Bet security service and representatives of the Justice Ministry.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/432564.html