Nuclear whistleblower Mordechai Vanunu (pictured at left) spent 18 years in prison, most of it in solitary confinement, for telling a British newspaper in 1986 about Israel's surreptitiously developed nuclear weapons program.

A Jerusalem court convicted Vanunu last week of violating parole restrictions by talking to the media and other human beings outside his native country, Israel.

The case is under appeal and Vanunu is free on appeal, but could face an additional six months in prison.

An AP report reads that emerging from an Israeli courtroom, Vanunu said the verdict proves "that Israel is not a democracy," and asked to be allowed to leave the country.