Vanunu 'is still security risk'

Mr Vanunu completes his 18-year jail term next month

The Israeli authorities say convicted nuclear spy Mordechai Vanunu could still threaten national security when he is released from jail next month.

Mr Vanunu was sentenced to 18 years for treason and espionage for leaking details of Israel's nuclear programme to Britain's Sunday Times newspaper.

His trial came after he was abducted in Europe by Israeli agents in 1986.

Attorney General Mordechai Mazuz said restrictions should be placed on him to stop him revealing further information.

However, he ruled out keeping Mr Vanunu in custody after he had completed his prison term.

Mr Mazuz told the law committee of the Israeli parliament, the Knesset, that despite the danger of further disclosures, he opposed putting Mr Vanunu under administrative detention.

Correspondents say one possibility under discussion is withholding Mr Vanunu's passport to prevent him leaving Israel.

Secret trial

In 1986, Mr Vanunu, who had worked as a technician at the Dimona complex, gave the Sunday Times detailed information about Israel's nuclear programme that led observers to declare Israel the world's sixth-largest nuclear power.

Before he could reveal more, Mr Vanunu was lured out of hiding in London by a female Israeli secret agent who persuaded him that she wanted to meet him in Rome.

Once there, he was drugged by other Israeli agents and brought home.

Later that year, he was jailed after a trial for treason that was held in secret.

Viewed as a traitor and a spy by most Israelis, Mr Vanunu has spent most of his sentence in solitary confinement.