ISRAEL

RENSE: 'I'm Proud And Happy To Do What I Did' - Vanunu

With these words to the world, Israel's captive declared his freedom today, after 18 years of "cruel and barbaric" treatment in prison for telling the truth about Israel's secret nuclear arsenal

At 11 am, Vanunu walked out the door into Shikma prison's entry yard. A roar erupted from hundreds of demonstrators outside the locked main gate. Supporters at the gate were jostled by detractors behind, some shouting "Kill Vanunu!"

Moving deliberately past the press, surrounded and trailed by assorted officials and guards, Vanunu walked to the gate. Holding both hands high with the signs of victory and peace, he stepped up, onto the bars to see and acknowledge his supporters.

His brothers Asher and Meir, and Meir's young son Luca, had accompanied Vanunu out the door, and rejoined him as he returned to the forest of cameras and microphones.

Vanunu made a statement in English. I have no more secrets to tell; I want to leave Israel but they are restricting me. My treatment was cruel and barbaric; I was punished hard because I am became a Christian. I am a symbol of survival of the human spirit of freedom. I don't want to harm Israel. Open the Dimona reactor for inspection. I want to go to the United States and marry and have a life.

BBC: Vanunu - Israel's Nuclear Telltale
The Spotlight Is Back On Israel's Secret Nuclear Weapons Programme As Mordechai Vanunu Walks From Jail

Mordechai Vanunu's revelations in 1986 appeared to confirm suspicions about Israel's nuclear arsenal and showed a weapons programme bigger and more advanced than anyone had previously thought.

He had worked for nine years as a technician at the Dimona nuclear research centre in the Negev desert - but he left in late 1985 to backpack around the Far East, having become disillusioned with his work.

Before quitting he surreptitiously snapped two rolls of film at the top secret nuclear plant, including equipment for extracting radioactive material for arms production and laboratory models of thermonuclear devices.

It is not clear whether Vanunu was already set upon blowing the whistle on Israel's secret nuclear activities, but by the following year he had joined a group of anti-nuclear Christians in Sydney, Australia, coincidentally being baptised as an Anglican.