Mordechai Vanunu

On 2 June 2019, Vanunu reported at his Facebook Wall, "that for the 16th year, after 18 years behind bars" Israel renewed the restrictions against Vanunu "not to meet foreigners, not leave the country".

On 3 December 2019, Israel's Supreme Court dismissed Vanunu's latest petition seeking to end the restraining orders against "his freedom" and "privacy" citing "a concern about the probability of closeness to the certainty that if the restrictions imposed on Vanunu are removed, he will act to publish this [relevant confidential] information."

On 30 January 2017, Vanunu wrote on Facebook that the three Supreme Court judges were to rule "in a few weeks" regarding his latest appeal seeking to end all restrictions against him so that he can leave Israel. As of 3 March 2017, the last Vanunu wrote at Facebook: "Vanunu Mordechai February 15 at 11:52am ·We are now waiting for the Supreme court decision, it could be any time soon. And it could be good or nothing, so I am used too all this for 31 years,1986-2017.Freedom Must come."

On 24 February 2016, Vanunu tweeted his latest news regarding Israel's Supreme Court which has ordered the Prosecution to respond no later than 21 April 2016 regarding Vanunu's 8th Supreme Court appeal to end all restrictions and allow him to leave Israel.

On 15 April 2015, The National Security Archive of George Washington University published documents corroborating Vanunu's statements regarding the Dimona Negev Nuclear Research Center. The archived documents detail the discovery of Israel's nuclear deceptions, debates over Israel's lack of candor and efforts to pressure the Israelis to answer key questions about the Dimona facility.

In March 2015, Vanunu established an Indiegogo campaign to raise the $10,000.00 that he was ordered to pay the Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth, when Israel's Court ruled against Vanunu's libel suit against the publication for a November 1999 article. Yedioth Ahronoth's headline read: "Vanunu gave Hamas activists information on bomb assembly in prison" and a second-page insert entitled, "He's done it again", claimed Vanunu sent messages containing bomb-making information to incarcerated members of Hamas. Avigdor Feldman, Vanunu's defense attorney argued the report was fabricated by Shin Bet.

On 7 May 2015, Mordechai Vanunu reported the restrictions denying his right to leave Israel were renewed for the 12th year since he was released from prison.

On 3 June 2015, Minister Vidar Helgesen said Norway had asked Israel to abolish the restrictions against Vanunu leaving Israel for humanitarian considerations. Centre Party foreign policy spokesman Navarsete stated, "I would urge the government to make a difference…it would attract international attention if Norway gave nuclear whistleblower asylum or emergency passport – despite the Israeli sanctions against him."

In September 2015, Mordechai Vanunu's eighth Petition to remove the restrictions against him was denied by Israel's High Court.

On 12 August 2015, Mordechai Vanunu and his wife applied for family reunification via the Norwegian embassy in Tel Aviv. Vanunu's exit to Norway must be accepted by Israel and his entry approved by Norway. Norway had previously said that they could only issue emergency passports to people who are already on Norwegian soil. However, his wife is a Professor at the School of Theology in Oslo, and thus fulfills the requirement that one must be able to provide for their spouse.

On 2 September 2015 Vanunu granted his first interview to Israel Media in a Channel 2 interview regarding the Mossad operative who trapped him in 1986.

On 23 December 2015, Vanunu wrote: "Freedom of speech and Freedom of movement. 2016 Freedom year" in an update to his 30 October 2015 statement regarding his 8th Supreme Court Appeal. On 30 October Vanunu wrote: "I had a court hearing on 26 October 2015. We appealed all the restrictions. I even spoke to the Judges. They gave to the police 90 days to end their investigation for last arrest, after that they will decide."

On 19 May 2015, Vanunu married Norwegian Professor Kristin Joachimsen at the Lutheran Church of the Redeemer in Jerusalem.

Through constant surveillance and analysis by Mossad psychologists, the Mossad found that Vanunu had become lonely and eager for female companionship. Masquerading as an American tourist called "Cindy", Israeli Mossad agent Cheryl Bentov befriended Vanunu, and on 30 September persuaded him to fly to Rome with her on a holiday. This relation has been perceived as a classic honey trap operation whereby an intelligence agent employs seduction to gain the target's trust—a practice which has been officially sanctioned in Israel. Meanwhile, the Israeli Navy ship INS Noga was ordered to sail for Italy.

In 2005 he received the Peace Prize of the Norwegian People (Folkets fredspris). Previous recipients of this prize include Vytautas Landsbergis (1991), Alva Myrdal (1982), Mairead Maguire and Betty Williams. On 24 February 2010, Nobel Institute Director, Geir Lundestad, announced that for the second year in a row, Mordechai Vanunu had declined the honour of being nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize.

On 21 September 2010, the Teach Peace Foundation recognized Mordechai Vanunu for his courageous actions to halt the development and proliferation of weapons of mass destruction by the Israeli government.

On 4 October 2010, the International League for Human Rights announced that Vanunu was awarded the Carl von Ossietzky Medal for 2010 and, on 16 November, sent open letters to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defence Minister Ehud Barak and Interior Minister Eli Yishai, seeking Vanunu's free departure out of Israel to allow him to receive the medal at the Award Ceremony in Berlin on 12 December 2010. Nobel laureates cited as co-signatories to the letter include Mairead Maguire, Günter Grass, Harold W. Kroto and Jack Steinberger.

In March 2009 Vanunu wrote to the Nobel Peace Prize Committee in Oslo:

Shortly before his scheduled release, Vanunu remained defiant under interrogation by the security service, Shin Bet. In recordings of the interview made public after his release, he is heard saying "I am neither a traitor nor a spy, I only wanted the world to know what was happening." He also said, "We don't need a Jewish state. There needs to be a Palestinian state. Jews can, and have lived anywhere, so a Jewish State is not necessary." "Vanunu is a difficult and complex person. He remains stubbornly, admirably uncompromisingly true to his principles, is willing to pay the price", said Ha'aretz newspaper in 2008.

Former conservative Norwegian Prime Minister Kåre Willoch asked the conservative government to give Vanunu asylum, and the University of Tromsø offered him a job. On 9 April 2008, it was revealed that Vanunu's request for asylum in Norway was rejected in 2004 by Erna Solberg, at the time Minister of Local Government in the liberal coalition government led by then Norwegian Prime Minister Kjell Magne Bondevik.

International calls for his freedom of movement and freedom of speech made by organizations supporting Vanunu have been either ignored or rejected by Israel. On 15 May 2008, the "Norwegian Lawyer's Petition for Vanunu" was released, signed by 24 Norwegian attorneys. It calls on the Norwegian government to urgently implement a three-point action plan "within the framework of international and Norwegian law" and allow Vanunu to travel to, live and work in Norway. On 11 October 2010, his appeal to rescind the restrictions and allow him to leave Israel and speak to foreigners was denied by the Israeli Supreme Court.

Vanunu's appeal against his six-month jail sentence was set to resume on 8 July 2008

In 2007, Vanunu was sentenced to six months in prison for violating terms of his parole. The sentence was considered unusually severe even by the prosecution, who expected a suspended sentence. Yet in May 2010, Vanunu was arrested again and sentenced to three months in jail on a charge that he met foreigners in violation of conditions of his 2004 release from jail. In response, Amnesty International issued a press release on July 2007, stating that "The organisation considers Mordechai Vanunu to be a prisoner of conscience and calls for his immediate and unconditional release."

In 2006, Amnesty International's British branch chief, Kate Allen, wrote that Microsoft handed over the details of Vanunu's Hotmail email account by alluding that he was being investigated for espionage. This happened before a court order had been obtained.

In December 2004, he was elected by the students of the University of Glasgow to serve for three years as Rector. On 22 April 2005, he was formally installed in the post but could not carry out any of its functions as he was still confined to Israel. The Herald newspaper launched a campaign for his release.

Vanunu spent 18 years in prison, including more than 11 in solitary confinement, though no such restriction is mentioned in Israel's penal code, nor imposed by his verdict. Released from prison in 2004, he was further subjected to broad array of restrictions on his speech and his movement, and arrested several times for violations of his parole terms, giving interviews to foreign journalists and attempting to leave Israel. He claims having suffered "cruel and barbaric treatment" at the hands of prison authorities, and suggests that these would have been different if he had not converted to Christianity.

The death penalty in Israel is restricted to special circumstances, and only two executions have ever taken place there. In 2004, former Mossad director Shabtai Shavit told Reuters that the option of extrajudicial execution was considered in 1986, but rejected because "Jews don't do that to other Jews." Treason is a capital offense under Israeli law, and Vanunu could have faced the death penalty, but prosecutor Uzi Hasson announced that he would not seek the death penalty.

Vanunu was released from prison on 21 April 2004. Surrounded by dozens of journalists and flanked by two of his brothers, he held an impromptu press conference, but refused to answer questions in Hebrew because of the suffering he said he sustained at the hands of the State of Israel. Vanunu said Israel's Mossad spy agency and the Shin Bet security services tried to rob him of his sanity by keeping him in solitary confinement. "You didn't succeed to break me, you didn't succeed to make me crazy," he said. Vanunu also called for Israel's nuclear disarmament, and for its dismantlement as a Jewish state. Around 200 supporters and a smaller number of counter-demonstrators attended the conference. He indicated a desire to completely dissociate himself from Israel, initially refusing to speak in Hebrew, and planning to move to Europe or the United States as soon as the Israeli government would permit him to do so.

On 22 April 2004, Vanunu asked the government of Norway for a Norwegian passport and asylum in the country for "humanitarian reasons", according to Norwegian media. He also sent applications to other countries, and stated that he would accept asylum in any country because he fears for his life.

Following his release in 2004, Vanunu appeared in Israeli courts on numerous occasions on charges of having violated the terms of his release. He was arrested and detained for attempting to go to Bethlehem, on at least one occasion his room in St. George's Cathedral was raided by policemen and his belongings were confiscated.

They renewed the restrictions to not speak to foreigners until November. The appeal [against three months in jail for speaking to foreign media in 2004] was scheduled for January, then May 6th and June 18th. Now I am waiting for a new court date."

In September 2004, Vanunu received the LennonOno Grant for Peace, a peace prize founded by artist and musician Yoko Ono in memory of John Lennon, her late husband.

Yossi Melman, an Israeli journalist, wrote in the Israeli newspaper Haaretz "Vanunu's harassment by the Israeli government is unprecedented and represents a distortion of every accepted legal norm." Vanunu was denied parole at a hearing in May 1998. Five years later, parole was again refused. At this parole hearing, Vanunu's lawyer Avigdor Feldman maintained that his client had no more secrets and should be freed. But the prosecution argued that the imminent war with Iraq would preclude his release. After the hearing, Feldman said, "The prosecutor said that if Vanunu were released, the Americans would probably leave Iraq and go after Israel and Israel's nuclear weapons - which I found extremely ridiculous." The real force blocking Vanunu's release, who had been known only as "Y", was exposed in 2001 as Yehiyel Horev, the head of Mossad's nuclear and military secrets branch.

Vanunu states in his letters that he intended to share the money received from the newspaper (for the information) with the Anglican Church of Australia. Meanwhile, Guerrero, despite having met Hounam and Vanunu at the airport when they arrived in London and receiving an assurance from Hounam that he would get his money, sold the story to the tabloid Sunday Mirror, whose owner was Robert Maxwell. In 1991, a self-described former Mossad officer or government translator named Ari Ben-Menashe claimed that Maxwell, allegedly an agent for Israeli intelligence services, had tipped off the Israeli Embassy about Vanunu in 1986. In sharing his story with the Sunday Mirror, Guerrero forfeited the agreed-upon payment of $25,000 from The Sunday Times.

Vanunu served his sentence at Shikma Prison in Ashkelon, where he was held in, administrative imposed, solitary confinement. On May 3, 1989, he appealed his conviction and sentence to the Israeli Supreme Court, and was brought from prison in a closed police vehicle to the Supreme Court for an appeal hearing. In 1990, his appeal was rejected. The following year, an appeal to the Supreme Court arguing for better prison conditions was also rejected. On March 12, 1998, after having spent over eleven years in solitary confinement, Vanunu was released into the general prison population. While in prison, Vanunu took part in small acts of non-submission, such as refusing psychiatric treatment, refusing to talk with the guards, reading only English-language newspapers, and watching only BBC television. "He is the most stubborn, principled and tough person I have ever met", said his lawyer, Avigdor Feldman. In 1998, Vanunu appealed to the Supreme Court for his Israeli citizenship to be revoked. The Interior Minister denied Vanunu's request on grounds that he did not have another citizenship.

On 28 March 1988, Vanunu was convicted and sentenced to eighteen years of imprisonment from the date of his abduction in Rome. The Israeli government refused to release the transcript of the court case until, under a threat of legal action, it agreed to let censored extracts be published in Yedioth Ahronoth, an Israeli newspaper, in late 1999.

Vanunu has been characterized internationally as a whistleblower and by Israel as a traitor. Daniel Ellsberg has referred to him as "the preeminent hero of the nuclear era". In 1987, he was awarded the Right Livelihood Award for "his courage and self-sacrifice in revealing the extent of Israel's nuclear weapons programme".

On January 6, 1987, he began a hunger strike over his prison conditions. During a visit with his brother Asher and in a letter to his brother Meir, he complained, among other things, of being held in solitary confinement 23 hours a day. When Judy Zimmet traveled to Israel and asked to visit him in prison, prison authorities said they could only meet in the presence of prison officials and with them separated by a glass barrier. Vanunu rejected these conditions, demanding he be allowed to meet her face to face. He filed three appeals to the Israeli Supreme Court protesting his conditions, which were rejected. After 33 days, Vanunu ended his hunger strike.

On August 30, 1987, Vanunu's trial opened. He was charged with treason, aggravated espionage, and collection of secret information with intent to impair state security. The trial, held in secret, took place in the Jerusalem District Court before Chief Justice Eliyahu Noam and Judges Zvi Tal and Shalom Brenner. Vanunu was initially represented by Amnon Zichroni, then by Avigdor Feldman, a prominent Israeli civil and human rights lawyer. The prosecutor was Uzi Hasson. Vanunu was denied of contact with the media, but he inscribed the details of his abduction (or "hijacking", as he put it), on the palm of his hand, which he held against the van's window while being transported to court, for the waiting press to get that information.

During his trial, Vanunu was brought to court wearing a motorcycle helmet to conceal his face. On 1 September 1987, while being brought into court, Vanunu tried to take off his helmet and started shouting in an apparent attempt to talk to the reporters nearby. His guards stopped him using physical force, and police sirens were turned on to drown out his voice.

Vanunu has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize every year since 1987.

Vanunu received the Right Livelihood Award in 1987. He was given an honorary doctorate by the University of Tromsø in 2001.

After leaving his job, Vanunu started attending Israeli Communist Party meetings, but was unimpressed with the level of discussion and soon stopped going. He also tried modeling nude for art students, but was not booked again for being too nervous and jumpy. In November 1985, he moved in with Judy Zimmet, an American woman who was working as a midwife at Soroka Medical Center. After accompanying Zimmet and her sister on a tour around Israel, he embarked on a backpacking trip throughout the Far East, and planned to meet her in the United States afterwards, though he later became uncertain about continuing the relationship. On January 19, 1986, he left Israel for Greece via a boat from Haifa to Athens. After spending a few days in Athens, he flew to Thailand on an Aeroflot flight to Bangkok. He transited through Moscow, spending a night at a transit hotel there. During his time in Thailand, he visited the Golden Triangle, where he tried opium and hash cocktails. He then flew to Myanmar, where he met and befriended Fiona Gall, daughter of British journalist Sandy Gall. After touring Mandalay together, Vanunu flew on his own to Nepal.

During his time in Nepal, Vanunu visited the Soviet embassy in Kathmandu to inquire about the travel documents he would need for a future trip to the Soviet Union. He then returned to Thailand, and from there went to Australia on a flight to Sydney. Vanunu decided to settle permanently in Sydney, and after ten days of sightseeing, he found a job as a dishwasher at the Menzies Hotel, and then at a Greek restaurant. Meanwhile, he studied for and eventually gained a taxi license. He also began attending a church, and in July 1986, converted to Christianity, joining the Anglican Church of Australia. He moved into an apartment owned by the church and found work driving a taxi owned by a parishioner.

During this time, he met Oscar Guerrero, a freelance journalist from Colombia. Guerrero persuaded Vanunu to sell his story, claiming that his story and photographs were worth up to $1 million. After failing to interest Newsweek, Guerrero approached the British Sunday Times, and within a few days, Vanunu was interviewed by Sunday Times journalist Peter Hounam. According to American journalist Louis Toscano, Guerrero approached the Israeli consulate in August 1986, offering help in tracking down an Israeli "traitor". Guerrero was hoping to be paid. He met with an Israeli intelligence officer named Avi Kliman, and told him Vanunu's story. Kliman was initially dismissive, but took down Vanunu's name and passport number, which was checked. They met a second time, during which Guerrero handed over four crudely copied photographs. On September 7, 1986, two men who identified themselves as officers from Shin Bet approached Vanunu's older brother Albert in his carpentry shop in Beersheba and questioned him about his brother. They told him that he was in Australia, that he was talking to a British newspaper about his work at the nuclear research center, urged him to dissuade his brother, and then made him sign a non-disclosure agreement barring him from talking about the meeting. On September 10, Vanunu and Hounam flew to London from Australia. There, in violation of his non-disclosure agreement, Vanunu revealed to the Sunday Times his knowledge of the Israeli nuclear programme, including the photographs he had secretly taken at the Dimona site.

On November 9, 1986, after weeks of press reports speculating that Vanunu had been abducted, the Israeli government confirmed it was holding Vanunu prisoner.

I am asking the committee to remove my name from the list for this year's list of nominations. I cannot be part of a list of laureates that includes Shimon Peres, the President of Israel. He is the man who was behind all the Israeli atomic policy. Peres established and developed the atomic weapon program in Dimona in Israel. Peres was the man who ordered the kidnapping of me in Italy Rome, Sept. 30, 1986, and for the secret trial and sentencing of me as a spy and traitor for 18 years in isolation in prison in Israel. Until now he continues to oppose my freedom and release, in spite of my serving full sentence 18 years. From all these reasons I don't want be nominated and will not accept this nomination. I say No to any nomination as long as I am not free, that is, as long as I am still forced to be in Israel. What I want is freedom and only freedom .

Vanunu graduated from Ben-Gurion University in 1985 with a BA in philosophy and geography. In early 1985, he lost his job following a mass layoff of workers due to government cutbacks, but his labor union won him his job back. After he resumed working at the facility, Vanunu secretly smuggled in a camera and covertly took 57 photographs. He quit his job on 27 October 1985, due to repeated efforts by his superiors to transfer him to tasks that were less sensitive than his previous positions at the facility. He was given severance pay of $7,500 and a reference letter praising his work and describing his departure as a layoff.

In his security file at the Negev Nuclear Research Center, it was noted that he had displayed "left-wing and pro-Arab beliefs". In May 1984, he was questioned by the head of security at Dimona and a lawyer who was possibly from Shin Bet, and was let off with a stern warning about divulging any unauthorized information.

In June 1984, he was again interrogated at the facility's security office. The next month, he left for France for two weeks with a student group to meet French-Jewish students in Paris and when he returned, he was interrogated again. In 1985, Vanunu reportedly joined the Israeli Communist Party. Vanunu later claimed that he had developed a very close friendship with an Israeli Arab, and after a year, discovered that his friend was being paid to spy on him.

At that time, his political views had begun to change. He had previously held far-right political positions, but he gradually shifted to the center, and then to the left, becoming critical of many policies of the Israeli government. He opposed the 1982 Lebanon War, and when he was called up to serve in that war as a reserve soldier in the Engineering Corps, he refused to perform field tasks and instead did kitchen duty. He also campaigned for equal rights for Arab Israelis. In March 1984, he formed a left-wing group called "Campus" with five Arab and four Jewish students. He became acquainted with many Arab students, including pro-PLO activists. Vanunu was also affiliated with a group called "Movement for the Advancement of Peace". He developed a particular resentment for what he viewed as the dominance of Israeli society by Ashkenazi Jews, or Jews of European origin, and the perceived discrimination against Sephardi and Mizrahi Jews from the Middle East and North Africa. He felt that he was looked down on by those who ran the Dimona facility due to his Moroccan origin. According to Dr. Ze'ev Tzahor of Ben-Gurion University, "he projected a deep sense of deprivation. He assumed an Ashkenazi dominance in Israel that encompassed all social strata and an Ashkenazi consensus closing off all possibilities of advancement for Oriental Jews." According to The Jerusalem Post, Vanunu's anti-Ashkenazi feelings morphed into anti-Jewish and anti-Israeli feelings, and he became the principal advocate for Arab students on campus, arguing their case with what other Jewish students saw as irrational intensity. He became known on campus as a radical. His activities drew increasing attention from his employer.

In 1979, he enrolled at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in Beersheba. Initially, he wanted to study engineering, but within a week switched to economics, and also began a Greek philosophy course. In the autumn of 1980, he took a backpacking trip through Europe. He toured London, Amsterdam, Germany, and Scandinavia, and then visited Greece and toured the Greek islands with a Canadian friend. After returning to Israel, he bought a flat in Beersheba. In the summer of 1983, he took a three-month trip to the United States and Canada with a friend, transiting through Ireland in the process on a charter flight through Shannon Airport. This was in direct violation of instructions from his workplace, which mandated direct flights to North America only in case of hijacking. Upon his return he was threatened with a disciplinary tribunal, but this never happened.

After a lengthy interview with the facility's security officer, he was accepted for training. He signed a contract forbidding disclosure of sensitive security materials, and had to promise not to visit any Arab or Communist countries for five years after his employment at the facility ended. He passed health checks, after which his training began. He was put through an intensive training course in physics, chemistry, mathematics, first aid, fire drill, and English. He did sufficiently well to be accepted, and was employed as a nuclear plant technician and shift manager in February 1977. Vanunu earned a high salary by Israeli standards, and lived well. His work record was so good he qualified for a car and telephone allowance, though he had no interest in either and simply had his brother Meir's car registered in his name and had the telephone installed at his parents’ house.

In 1976, Vanunu applied for a job at the Negev Nuclear Research Center, an Israeli facility used to develop and manufacture nuclear weapons located in the Negev Desert south of Dimona. Most worldwide intelligence agencies estimate that Israel developed nuclear weapons as early as the 1960s, but the country has intentionally maintained a "nuclear ambiguity", neither acknowledging nor denying that it possesses nuclear weapons. Vanunu had heard from a friend of his brother at Meir that well-paying jobs were being advertised by the facility.

He was stationed in a highlands area and saw action during the 1973 Yom Kippur War. In 1974, he participated in the demolition of army installations in areas of the Golan that were to be returned to Syrian control. Vanunu was offered a permanent job with the army as a career soldier, but declined the offer, and was honorably discharged in 1974. He then enrolled at Tel Aviv University and entered a pre-academic course, completing his matriculation, then began studying physics. During this period, he worked in a variety of places, including in a bakery and retirement home. After failing two exams at the end of his first year and realizing that the full-time work he needed to do to pay his tuition interfered with his studies, Vanunu suspended his studies and returned to his parents' home in Beersheba, where he found temporary work. He applied for a job with Shin Bet, the Israeli domestic intelligence and police service, but was rejected for reasons of incompatibility.

He finished high school with a partial matriculation. Vanunu's parents wanted him to attend a higher yeshiva; he agreed but left after a week. He then found a temporary job in the court archives. In October 1971, he was conscripted into the Israel Defense Forces. He tried to join the Israeli Air Force as a pilot, but after having been rejected by examiners, they sent him to the Combat Engineering Corps, where he became a sapper. After basic training, he completed a commanders' course and then a non-commissioned officers course, and was given the rank of Sergeant-Major.

Vanunu was born in Marrakesh, Morocco, the second of 11 children born to an Orthodox Jewish family that lived in the city's Mellah, or Jewish quarter. His father, Shlomo, ran a grocery store, and his mother, Mazal, was a housewife. Vanunu studied in an Alliance française school, and a Jewish religious elementary school, or cheder. In 1963, following a rise in anti-Semitic sentiment in Morocco, Vanunu's father sold his business, and the family emigrated to Israel. Vanunu was eight years old at the time. The family transited through France, spending a month in a camp in Marseilles before being taken to Israel by sea. Upon arrival in Israel, the family was sent by the Jewish Agency to settle at Beersheba, which at that time was an impoverished desert city. During their first year in Israel, the family lived in a small wooden hut without electricity.

Mordechai Vanunu (Hebrew: מרדכי ואנונו ‎; born 14 October 1952), also known as John Crossman, is an Israeli former nuclear technician and peace activist who, citing his opposition to weapons of mass destruction, revealed details of Israel's nuclear weapons program to the British press in 1986. He was subsequently lured to Italy by the Israeli intelligence agency Mossad, where he was drugged and abducted. He was secretly transported to Israel and ultimately convicted in a trial that was held behind closed doors.