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LONDON — Amnesty International accused Israel Friday of subjecting nuclear whistle-blower Mordechai Vanunu to "inhuman" treatment by sending him back to jail.

Vanunu, a former nuclear technician who served 18 years for disclosing atomic secrets to a British newspaper, was jailed for three months last month for breaking the terms of his release and meeting a foreigner.

"Mordechai Vanunu should not be in prison at all, let alone be held in solitary confinement in a unit intended for violent criminals," said Malcolm Smart, the London-based rights group's Middle East programme director.

"He suffered immensely when he was held in solitary confinement for 11 years after his imprisonment in 1986 and to return him to such conditions now is nothing less than cruel, inhuman or degrading," he added.

An Israeli court had in December sentenced Vanunu to serve three months community service or three months in prison, for violating the terms of his release from prison in 2004.