Mordechai Vanunu spent 18 years behind bars for revealing Israel's nuclear secrets. Freed last month, he is still forbidden to leave Israel or speak to foreigners.

Watch the Mordechai Vanunu interview

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The views expressed on these pages are not necessarily the views of the BBC. The e-mails published are reflective of the balance of opinion received.

His secrets are 18-years-old and I imagine that they teach what he knows in high school. Let him emigrate to a country that welcomes traitors.
Murray Levine, Canada

Congratulations on showing this programme. Vanunu is a very brave man and knew that he faced harsh treatment as a result of his actions. He has served his time and should be completely free.
John Dean, Westerham

Israel is still technically in a state of war with the surrounding Arab countries - except Egypt and Jordan - making state security extremely important. Mordechai Vanunu was, and is, bound by the Israeli Official Secrets Act and when he broke this he was sentenced accordingly. He was unable to establish a defence of public interest. Whistleblowers are only a luxury of secure, mature democracies. These circumstances should be recognised when reporting this issue.
Alan Harrison, London

To have held Mr Vanunu in solitary confinement for 18 years is a gross violation of his human rights Shane Taylor, Ireland

He should have been jailed for longer. Israel has the right to have these weapons for defensive purposes. It is the only country that has been threatened with extermination by all of its neighbours at one time or another, and still is by some of them.
Jeremy MacMull, England

If someone working for the MOD sold Britain's state secrets, classified documents and photographs of our nuclear facilities to a foreign newspaper, he'd be lucky if he only got 18 years. I think Israel was crazy to release a man who is obviously still a threat.
Bill Worthington, Newcastle

To have held Mr Vanunu in solitary confinement for 18 years is a gross violation of his human rights. It is simply indefensible. And for Israeli officials to suggest that Mr Vanunu is still a risk to national security all these years after the fact is ridiculous. Shame on them.
Shane Taylor, Ireland

If we are to learn one single thing from the holocaust, or genocide, it is that there comes a time when each individual must judge for themselves whether their actions further the cause of humanity despite their allegiances. Here we have a true hero, one who paid for his conscience with years of imprisonment and loss of liberty.
Martin, USA

Mordechai Vanunu betrayed his country. He abused the trust that was given to him and betrayed his responsibility and promise to his employer. It was not up to him to reveal the scope of Israel's nuclear capabilities. If Vanunu did what he did in any other nation, he would have been imprisoned for life or put to death.
Boris V, USA

The issue of Israel's security is priority, just as it should be for any other country's citizens. Israel is the vulnerable country in the Middle East. Islamic mandates offer no other choice for Israel except self-defence. Any family that would not defend its children are worse than their enemy. Logic and faith have to apply universally.
Sylvia Joslyn, USA

He deserves the death penalty for treason Robert, USA

What Vanunu has done deserves to be recognised as a principled stand for a nuclear-free world. He is not a traitor. He stands alongside Ghandi and Mandela as a shining example of the goodness of the human spirit.
Pat and Barney, Wales

Let Vanunu go free. He said what he wanted to. Israel is only making us look harder at them and their secrets.
Mary, Scotland

Bravo! I applaud your courage in broadcasting the programme, just as I applaud Vanunu's courage in continuing to speak out.
Margaret Tarazi, London

He deserves the death penalty for treason. A country has to be able to trust its own. This type of behavior needs to be discouraged.
Robert, USA

Vanunu is not just a "whistleblower", as you call him. He is a traitor, hating Israel more than any Muslim terrorist. Shame on you!
Zvi, Israel

History will give him his due Pierre Jambor, Mexico

Vanunu courageously revealed information the world needs to know: who has nuclear weapons, weapons of mass destruction? In a fair world, all WMDs in all countries must be subject to international inspection and disarmament.
Carl Tander, New York, USA

This programme was a disgrace. It portrayed Israel as some backward, oppressive state. Israel is the only democracy in the Middle East, and it upholds human rights just like any other Western state. It is very different to the country portrayed on your programme.
Jak Codd, Surbiton, UK

Thanks so much for sharing this with us but we feel that the story is not over for Mordechai Vanunu. We pray for him and our thoughts go with him and thank him for having a social conscience and acting upon it.
Patrick and Senga Farfan, Altrincham, UK

Mordechai Vanunu was a traitor to his country, his people and his religion. If he did not like what he was doing, all he had to do was leave the country and live somewhere else.
Sonia Greenwald, London, UK

There was almost no attempt to show what damage this man did to his country Rita Ellman, London

The interview of Mordechai Vanunu depicted a man savouring the taste of freedom which he has so long been denied. Shame on those whose secrets are more important than a man's freedom.
Madeline, Manchester, UK

Regardless of whether Vanunu tried to expose Israel's nuclear weapons, committing treason in any country should be treated harshly. Israel's nuclear weapons simply are a deterrent to hostile neighbours which will ultimately prevent a nuclear holocaust rather than start one.
Jamie, London, UK

Vanunu has paid a disproportionate price just to say publicly what everybody knew or suspected. History will give him his due.
Pierre Jambor, La Paz, Mexico

What do you think would have been the reaction if the journalists had exposed the secrets of this country or of another European country? What do you think would happen to somebody who did what Vanunnu did in this country? Apart from one interview there was almost no attempt to show what damage this man did to his country.
Rita Ellman, London, UK

He's paid the price and served his time---let Vanunu go!
Vic Paul, Vancouver, Canada

Vanunu is na�ve and misguided rather than evil Guy, London

I was moved by Mordecai Vanunu's courage, his spirit and his honesty. What I heard this evening reminded me of nothing so much as the Soviet State. I wish Mr Vanunu a peaceful, healthy and happy future, somewhere he is free to be himself.
Cherry Austin, London, UK

Your programme dramatised Vanunu as if he were a Mandela-like figure. He is not. He sold his country's secrets to a newspaper. It is a credit to Israel that he was released, in good health, having served his sentence.
Jonathan, London, UK

I raise my hat to Vanunu, who exposed the Zionist State for what they are.
Shlomo Cohen, Bolton, UK

This is what good journalism is about: giving a voice to those the powers that be seek to silence Chris Khamis, UK

Vanunu wanted to save Israel from a new holocaust!? A new holocaust is what would have resulted from Israel disarming itself in the midst of the most dangerous region in the world. Vanunu is na�ve and misguided rather than evil, but that doesn't make him any less of a traitor to his people and his country.
Guy, London, UK

Vanunu is in my eyes is an absolute hero. He is, in a lot of ways, in the same league as Nelson Mandela. What I don't understand though is the fact that he would consider beginning a new life in the US. The US sponsor this terribly horrid regime.
Steven Mcnamara, Edinburgh, UK

There was no mention of the money that Vanunu was offered from the Sunday Times for his original story, and instead we witness a poor attempt to present him as an ideologist who was out to "save the world".
David Bar Alon, London, UK

He did not sell his information to any Arab state but alerted the world to another nuclear threat. I pray God gives him the strength to continue his fight for freedom.
Naila Pratt, Rainham, UK

Can you not see the danger Vanunu has placed on the heads of the inhabitants of the State of Israel? Amit Yahav, Holland

In any other country, Great Britain included, an individual like Vanunu would be considered as a spy and a traitor to his people and nation!
Cimber Maurice, Belgium

As a secular Jew who has been sympathetic to Israel but who has become increasingly disillusioned, and also as someone who has made a fact-finding tour of the West Bank to see things for myself, I believe that the present government of Israel, in total panic, has crossed far beyond the boundaries of civilised behaviour. Who on earth does the Israeli Minister of Justice think he's kidding when he says he believes that Vanunu has more nuclear secrets?
Dr Brian Robinson, Milton Keynes, UK

It should be emphasized that Israel never denied having nuclear weapons, nor is its possession of nuclear weapons in contravention of the nuclear non-proliferation treaty to which Israel is not a signatory.
John, Canada