Israeli nuclear whistleblower Mordechai Vanunu is contesting a new jail sentence for unauthorised ties with foreigners after he completed an 18-year prison term for treason.
His lawyer, Avigdor Feldman, said Mr Vanunu had filed an appeal yesterday with the district court in Jerusalem, where a lower court sentenced him to six months in jail in July.
"The immediate significance is that my client will not be going back to jail any time soon," Mr Feldman said, adding that he expected a decision on the appeal within three months.
Mr Vanunu was first imprisoned in 1986 after giving an interview to a British newspaper about his work as a mid-level technician at Israel's main atomic reactor outside the southern desert town of Dimona.
He was freed in 2004 but was barred indefinitely from leaving Israel by order of defence officials who argued that he had more state secrets to spill. Mr Vanunu (52) has denied that.
Under the terms of his release, Mr Vanunu was also required to seek official Israeli permission for contacts with foreigners. Several unauthorised interviews he gave to international media about Israel's nuclear programme landed him back in court.
Should Jerusalem District Court find against Mr Vanunu's appeal, he could turn to the Supreme Court, Mr Feldman said. Yet Israel's highest legal panel has already rejected a petition by Mr Vanunu to overturn the travel ban imposed on him by the state.
Israel neither confirms nor denies having the Middle East's only atomic weapons under a policy of "strategic ambiguity".