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Last Wednesday, British journalist Peter Hounam was arrested in Jerusalem by the Shin Bet security services

on suspicion that he was involved in interviewing former nuclear technician Mordechai Vanunu, who was freed in April after serving 18 years for spilling Israel's nuclear secrets,

reported the Israeli daily Haaretz on Friday.

Vanunu has been banned from any contact with foreigners and any journalists, even Israeli ones, without permission from the security services. Hounam was part of the team at The Sunday Times of London that broke the story by reporting Vanunu's revelations 20 years ago and has remained his friend.

The deep seriousness of the matter was affirmed by Israeli officials.

Danny Seaman, director of the Government Press Office, said that if Hounam was arrested it was for serious offenses. ...

"This is irregular and so I assume they did not arrest him as a journalist but because they have real reasons," Seaman told the radio. "The Shin Bet is a serious organization that deals with serious issues." ...

[Yuval] Steinitz[, chairman of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee,] said Thursday that "In general, the Shin Bet does not arrest people arbitrarily, but with considered judgement. I am not saying that the Shin Bet does not err at times, but it is generally a very responsible organization, and things like this are done after profound consideration."

Hounam was released without charge that same evening, one day after his arrest.

Footnote, Democracy Div.: The possible threat to Hounam arising from Israel's draconian state secrets law was real, Haaretz reports in another article.

"Israeli criminal law has clauses allowing legal action to be brought against journalists, providing that the alleged violations are in the security sphere," said legal commentator Moshe Negbi.

"This is something that is not generally an accepted norm in proper democracies, but it exists."

Hanegbi was referring to Clause 13 in Israel's criminal code, the same clause under which Vanunu was originally charged. According to the clause, "Whoever publishes a state secret in a newspaper has committed a crime punishable by 15 years imprisonment, without connection to the question of whether the information poses or is liable to pose a danger to the state," Hanegbi said.

Mere possession of the secret information - whether dangerous or not - by a journalist is punishable by seven years in jail.

It's easy to imagine a scenario for dealing with a troublesome journalist: Just feed them some meaningless "secret" - and then arrest them for possessing it. Free nations shouldn't just not do such things, they should aspire to not have the means to do such things.

Footnote, Oops! Div.: The International Herald Tribune reports that Israeli officials tried to keep the matter quiet; indeed, the Jerusalem District Court issued an order on Thursday barring release of details about Hounam's arrest. Unfortunately for officialdom, when five Shit Bet agents arrested him at his hotel, they walked him out - right past Donatella Rovera, an official of Amnesty International.