LETTER: Decade of cruel imprisonment

From Mr Peter Benenson

and others

Sir: On 1 October, Mordechai Vanunu will start his 10th year of solitary confinement in Ashkelon Prison, Israel, in conditions described by Amnesty International as "cruel, inhuman and degrading". For revealing the truth about Israel's nuclear weapons arsenal, he was brutally kidnapped, tried in camera and sentenced to 18 years' imprisonment.

In protest against his continuing harsh treatment and the failure of the prison authorities to implement directives from the Court of Appeal last July, he will be starting a hunger strike on Sunday.

In the name of humanity, we appeal to President Weizmann and the Israeli government to end his terrible suffering and grant him his freedom.

Yours faithfully,

Peter Benenson, Helen Bamber, Michael Mansfield, Helena Kennedy, Roy Shaw, Andrew Wilski

London, SE1

28 September