Oslo  - Israeli nuclear whistle-blower Mordechai Vanunu has asked to be removed from a list of nominees for the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize, reports said Tuesday.

In a letter to the five-member Nobel Committee, the former nuclear technician who was jailed for leaking details of Israel's nuclear programme to a British newspaper in
1986, said he wanted to be removed from the list of candidates.

"My main reason for this is that I cannot be part of a list of laureates that includes Simon Peres. He is the man who was behind all the Israeli atomic policy," Vanunu said in the letter.

The letter was cited by the online edition of the trade union journal Frifagbevegelse published by the Norwegian Confederation of Trade Unions as well as the website www. thepeoplesvoice. org

Vanunu was released from prison in 2004 after serving an 18-year sentence for treason.

In his letter he stated that Peres, a former Nobel Peace Prize laureate and current president of Israel, "was the man who ordered my kidnapping" in in Rome in 1986.

"Until now he continues to oppose my freedom and release, in spite of my serving the full sentence of 18 years," Vanunu said, adding he "will not accept this nomination."

Vanunu has been mentioned in recent years as a nominee although the Nobel Committee advises that nominations be kept undisclosed. However, there are no rules against the procedure allowing plenty of speculation before the announcement, normally in mid-October.

This year, a record 205 nominations, including 33 organizations, have been made for the award, according to the Norwegian Nobel Institute. The Peace Prize is one of several prizes endowed by Swedish industrialist and dynamite inventor Alfred Nobel. (dpa)