Peres, Eban Ordered to Testify at Vanunu Trial, Defense Says

Judges ruled Sunday that Foreign Minister Shimon Peres must testify at the trial of Mordechai Vanunu, a former nuclear technician accused of spilling Israel’s nuclear secrets, the defense said.

In a closed-door session, a three-judge panel also accepted a defense request to subpoena lawmaker Abba Eban to testify at the trial, said Avigdor Feldman, Vanunu’s attorney.

“This ruling means Peres and Eban must testify,” Feldman said after the court session. He said the officials, both members of Israel’s 120-seat Knesset, will be subpoenaed through Parliament Speaker Shlomo Hillel as required by law.

Feldman said he could not elaborate on what issues Peres and Eban would testify about. Asked if they would be questioned on Israel’s nuclear capability, he answered: “Probably.”

Vanunu, 33, is charged with treason and espionage for telling the Sunday Times of London that Israel manufactured nuclear weapons and for providing detailed information based on his 10 years’ work at the Dimona nuclear facility in Israel’s Negev Desert.

Based on Vanunu’s information, the paper concluded that Israel had accumulated the world’s sixth-largest nuclear arsenal and had the capacity to make neutron and hydrogen bombs.

Peres was prime minister when Vanunu made his disclosures in the fall of 1986. Eban is chairman of Parliament’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee.

A spokesman at the Foreign Ministry said he was unaware of Sunday’s court ruling.

Also Sunday, a British professor testified for the defense that Vanunu’s revelations contributed to the cause of nuclear non-proliferation, Feldman said.

The witness, Frank Barnaby, an expert on nuclear issues, “testified generally about nuclear non-proliferation and said Vanunu’s actions had helped,” Feldman said.

Feldman appealed to the Supreme Court last Monday to open the trial to the public. A ruling is pending.