receives honorary doctorate at the University of Tromsø
The Israeli nuclear technician Mordechai Vanunu, currently in jail, is to receive an honorary doctorate at the University of Tromsø. In 1986 Vanunu informed the public about Israel’s secret nuclear weapons program. Following his disclosure of information through the Sunday Times Vanunu was lured to Rome, where he was abducted and returned to Israel. In 1987 he was charged with espionage and treason and sentenced to 18 years’ imprisonment. During eleven of those years he has been held in solitary confinement. Nobel Peace Prize laureate Sir Joseph Rotblat has characterized Vanunu’s case as a dilemma between loyalty to his country and loyalty to humanity.
Mordechai Vanunu
Mordechai Vanunu, born in Morocco in 1955, has due to his moral conviction put aside thoughts of personal suffering and loss, and fought against the spreading of nuclear weapons throughout the world. This has led him to an 18-year-sentence in an Israeli prison. He has now served 14 of those years, 11 in solitary confinement, without any contact with fellow prisoners. Although the isolation has come to an end, Vanunu is still held in disgraceful conditions. Massive support from several organizations and NGOs from all over the world has not managed to better Vanunu’s conditions. By giving Mordechai Vanunu an honorary doctorate, the University of Tromsø is not only advocating human rights, it is making a clear stance in the fight against nuclear weapons and engaging itself in the Middle East peace process. The honorary doctorate is also essential to the process of establishing Peace Studies at the University.
As a political prisoner and conscientious member of society, Mordechai Vanunu deserves both praise and recognition from the international society. Due to imprisonment and isolation Vanunu’s voice is all too often silenced. Nobel Peace Prize laureate Sir Joseph Rotblat and the Pugwash movement has led a prestigious fight to release Vanunu from prison. Today, Vanunu serves as a symbol in the fight against nuclear weapons. In 1987, Mordechai Vanunu was given ‘The Right Livelihood Award’, also known as the alternative Nobel Peace Prize, presented in the Swedish Parliament. Vanunu has through the years also been a serious contender for the Nobel Peace Prize.
An official ceremony will mark Vanunu’s honorary doctorate Tuesday May, 15 2001. The same day the Department of History at the Faculty of Social Sciences will host a seminar on which the case of Vanunu will be shed light. Vanunu’s honorary doctorate was suggested by the Department of History in connection with the international peace conference ‘Higher Education for Peace’ hosted by the University last year. Mordechai Vanunu joins a distinguished list of honorary doctorates at the University of Tromsø where freedom of speech and peace related work are the most central criteria – Archbishop Desmond Tutu (1994), Nobel Peace Prize laureate Rigoberta Menchu Tum (1995), author Salmon Rushdie, publisher William Nygaard and former president Mikhail Gorbatsjov (1998).
For further information please contact: Rector Tove Bull, telephone + 47 77 64 49 88 or +47 90 04 49 88 or Professor Randi Rønning Balsvik, Department of History, telephone +47 77 64 43 69
UNIVERSITY DIRECTOR
Department of Information
University of Tromsø, N-9037 Tromsø,
Telephone + 47 77 64 40 00, Fax +47 77 64 64 00
http://www.uit.no/
Universitetet i Tromsø, Informasjonsavdelingen,
9037 Tromsø, tlf. 77 64 49 82
Ansvarlig redaktør: Informasjonsdirektøren
Vev-ansvarlig: Karen MarieChristensen Oppdatert: 20. april 2001