Bradley Manning's Detention: UN Probing Whether Case Counts As Torture

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NEW YORK -- The United Nations is probing a complaint that Bradley Manning, the detained Army private suspected of giving classified documents to WikiLeaks has been mistreated in custody. And WikiLeaks chief Julian Assange called Manning "a political prisoner" during an interview on MSNBC.

As The Huffington Post reported last week, Manning's supporters went public with their concerns about the harsh conditions of his imprisonment aboard a floating brig in Quantico, Va. -- he has no access to exercise or even a pillow and bedsheets during his 23 hours of solitary confinement a day -- after their complaints to the military over several months went unheeded.

According to the Associated Press, the U.N. office for torture issues in Geneva said it received a complaint from one of Manning's supporters alleging conditions at the brig amount to torture. A spokesman for the Marines denied mistreating Manning, telling the AP he is being kept safe, secure and ready for trial.

Assange told MSNBC that he doesn't know if Manning is the whistleblower (due to the blinders of the software used by WikiLeaks), but he's a "political prisoner" in the U.S., adding that claims he conspired with Manning are "absolute nonsense."

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Recently, Manning's lawyer, David Coombs, posted a blog detailing the conditions of Manning's detention. Though he is allowed to read books and watch television for a few hours a day, the ban on exercise in his cell is strictly enforced. "If he attempts to do push-ups, sit-ups, or any other form of exercise he will be forced to stop," wrote Coombs.

The lawyer also expressed frustration with the harsh conditions, describing multiple attempts to improve them and indicating that he is prepared to file a motion under Article 13 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice, which bans illegal pretrial punishment.

"The defense has raised the conditions of PFC Bradley Manning's confinement conditions on multiple occasions with the Quantico confinement facility and the Army Staff Judge Advocate's (SJA) Office assigned to handle this case. Our efforts, unfortunately, have not resulted any in positive results. To its credit, the SJA office is attempting to correct this situation. However, given the fact that Quantico is a Marine Corps facility, it has similarly had no success."

Comments

[civilbehavior]

05:00 PM on 01/20/2011

Wake up m0rons.

"We are grateful to The Washington Post, The New York Times, Time Magazine and other great publications whose directors ..promised secrecy for almost forty years. It would have been impossible for us to develop our plan for the world if we had been subject to the bright lights of publicity during those years. The work is now much more sophisticated and ready to march towards a world government..by an intellectual elite and world bankers..preferable to countries using self-determination."

– David Rockefeller 1991 to Trilateral Commission.

[NathanHale73]

11:17 AM on 01/08/2011

Of course its inhumane treatment, and definitely punishment before trial, and of a cruel and unusual nature. Ok, not unusual as it happens all the time in the United States, but it should be considered that.

Many states and the U.S. government do this to avoid their detainees access to attorneys, press, etc. If you say it doesn't, you are completely wrong. If released, far greater access can exist. Often, while being held in that type of confinement, one does not have the ability to write, nor read. They are kept incommunicado, both for punishment and to prevent any semblance towards fairness. They are deprived of knowing the public reaction.

For what state purpose is he kept in solitary without bedding? Is he also given his food in styroform trays without utensils? Does he need to ask for water? Does he need to call for someone to give him toilet paper?

In many states in the US, that is the case. Four months? For minor charges, some people languish in Jails in a similar state awaiting their first hearing for many more months. Some people have been released because they were held past the maximum sentance before they even went into court for the first time. Yes, Justice in America. HA

[Facts Please]

02:38 PM on 01/03/2011

Notice how the Supreme Court is moving to get rid of the death penalty as "cruel and unusual" punishment even though we've had it for 250 years and it is not unusual or cruel since its done with painless drugs. YET, they are perfectly fine with waterboarding and "enhanced interrogation/confinement techniques" that everybody knows ARE ACTUALLY TORTURE!

"God save this great court!" (words spoken before each Supreme Court session).

[Name Not In Use]

02:46 AM on 01/03/2011

So through the night rode Paul Revere;
And so through the night went his cry of alarm
To every Middlesex village and farm,---
A cry of defiance, and not of fear,
A voice in the darkness, a knock at the door,
And a word that shall echo for evermore!
For, borne on the night-wind of the Past,
Through all our history, to the last,
In the hour of darkness and peril and need,
The people will waken and listen to hear
The hurrying hoof-beats of that steed,
And the midnight message of Paul Revere.

- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

[AlPal3]

09:11 PM on 01/01/2011

As a true conservative, I certify that Manning's detention is torture. For that reason alone, all true conservatives will vote straight Democrat in 2012.

[medic628]

12:03 AM on 12/26/2010

If there is nothing revealing in all this why is this being tortured? Do they need the practice?

[Tom Hickey]

08:00 PM on 12/23/2010

This isn't "torture," it's only "enhanced confinement," just like waterboarding isn't "torture" when the US does it; it's "enhanced interrogation."

[MMRDO]

11:13 PM on 12/23/2010

Every single jail, in the entire world, has suicide watch.

[TuoulumneFlower]

09:24 AM on 12/24/2010

First, he was evaluated by a psychologist and is not suicidal. Second, if this is "suicide watch" it's watching to see how long it will take to drive him to suicide...

[Tuigim]

01:05 PM on 12/24/2010

NO

[Tara Dass]

07:18 PM on 12/23/2010

It is torture, they know full well that it is torture. They are doing it to scare and discourage any other would be Prisoners on Conscience from going forward.
The CIA did extensive experiments and studies on torture in the last century, and what they are doing to Bradley Manning is absolute torture. Heaven help this brave young man!

[MMRDO]

11:13 PM on 12/23/2010

Its not, this is hardly torture, its for his own protection.

[TuoulumneFlower]

09:38 AM on 12/24/2010

Protection from what? Sleep?

[Tuigim]

05:12 PM on 12/23/2010

Can the U.N. investigate the war crimes too PLEEEASE?
Help us
What I want for Christmas is an America I can believe in.
I'm happy to start with Bush/Cheney/ Yoo/ Addington/ ByBee arrests and work from there.
And free this young man PRONTO!

[Tara Dass]

07:13 PM on 12/23/2010

fav & fan #100

[MMRDO]

12:53 AM on 12/24/2010

No. The UN cannot take action against: the USA, the UK, Russia, China, and France.

[Creeker11]

11:54 AM on 12/23/2010

How is it that the United Nations becomes involved in how the United States handles our own citizens/soldiers? What gives.

[jspkim]

12:47 PM on 12/23/2010

cause' the US is member of the UN and ratified the UN charters.

[GullyJimson]

01:10 PM on 12/23/2010

Human rights are a universal concept... and the United States should be the last nation on earth to accuse others of meddling in the affairs of other sovereign nations, if I might be so bold as to point out.

[JASONH0099]

08:36 PM on 12/23/2010

I will remember that the next time the IRS agent calls....

[ColoradoCool]

04:04 PM on 12/23/2010

So, I guess you were all for the Bush torture tactics. How wrong-headed can you be. Do you really think torture and human rights violations only happen in foreign lands?

[ResistanceisFutile]

11:40 AM on 12/23/2010

That's America under Bush III!

Gitmo was just another get me elected issue, for the commander in chief.

Failure to prosecute the former administration only lent credence to those torture policies.

[Fenguri]

07:49 PM on 12/23/2010

Huh? This person is being "tortured" under the OBAMA administration, so why is everyone trying to jump on Bush's back? Do you think that this makes Obama look less guilty? lol

[ResistanceisFutile]

08:41 PM on 12/23/2010

Don't you people read a post before commenting?

I though I blasted Obama as hard as I could.

[Creeker11]

11:38 AM on 12/23/2010

So, if he a cell-mate to watch TV and read books with, would he still be being "tortured" ???

[Tuigim]

05:18 PM on 12/23/2010

solitary confinement - that is confinement of a prisoner alone in a cell for all or nearly all of
the day, with minimal environmental stimulation and minimal opportunity for social interaction - can can cause severe psychiatric harm
- Dr. Stuart Grassian
Read more here http://www.prisoncommission.org/statements/grassian_stuart_long.pdf
I wouldn't wish this cruelty on anyone.

[MMRDO]

12:52 AM on 12/24/2010

He has a TV, books, and magazines. There is your stimulation.

[jspkim]

11:17 AM on 12/23/2010

The UCMJ is part of Federal Law - passed by Congress in accordance with the US Constitution.

In fact that have been several Supreme Court cases which challenged whether various aspects of the UCMJ were allowed per the US Constitution.

These cases include
The 1974 Supreme Court case Parker v. Levy
Hamdan v. Rumsfeld 2006
Hamdi's case in April 2004
Jacob Denedo' case in 2009

[WildBill]

11:10 AM on 12/23/2010

For those of you concerned about Bradley Manning's harsh pre-trial confinement I highly recommend an article by David House, who, along with David Coombs, Manning's defense counsel, has access to Manning. The article is entitled "Bradley Manning Speaks About His Conditions." A related article by Dr. Jeffrey Kaye is worth a read, also. It too is posted at FDL and is entitled "Bradley Manning and the Torture That is Solitary Confinement." Both articles are well worth the read!

[mh01]

11:46 AM on 12/23/2010

Now solitary confinement is torture? Give me a break.

Please explain why a man, allegedly possessed of state secrets and a history of revealing said secrets, should be in any other confinement other than solitary?

Please, stop feeling sorry for the bad guys.

[ColoradoCool]

04:09 PM on 12/23/2010

It's a HUMAN RIGHTS ISSUE! Don't you get that?

[Tuigim]

05:02 PM on 12/23/2010

Yes it is and it is vastly abused in this country.

[WildBill]

11:47 AM on 12/23/2010

Apologies for not providing a URL. Both articles are posted at firedoglake.com.