The Inhumane Conditions of Bradley Manning’s Detention

[Magda Hassan]

Soldier who leaked US cables may be freed over 'denial of rights'

By Kim Sengupta, Defence Correspondent

Tuesday, 8 February 2011

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Lawyers acting for Bradley Manning, the US intelligence analyst accused of stealing classified diplomatic cables later made public by WikiLeaks, may file for the charges against him to be dismissed on the grounds that the nine months he has been held in solitary confinement breach his constitutional rights. While Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks, attended an extradition hearing in London yesterday accompanied by his court of celebrity backers and 100 journalists, 23-year-old Manning spent another day in solitary confinement in his tiny, bare prison cell under conditions which have been described as inhumane and tantamount to psychological torture.
The few visitors allowed access to Private First Class Manning say that he points out that while his own reading material is subject to punitive restrictions, others, including Mr Assange, will profit from books being published about the exposure of the cables.
One of those who visited the prisoner at the end of last month, the computer researcher David House, reported that Pfc Manning has taken great interest in how new media has driven popular protests in Egypt and Tunisia and led to the fall of regimes.