Bradley Manning faces maltreatment, new charges

After months of investigation, the US Army has filed 22 new charges against US Army Private First Class Bradley Manning. The charges include “aiding the enemy” — a crime punishable by death.

The prosecutors have said they will not recommend the death penalty in this case, but Manning still faces the possibility of spending the rest of his life in prison.

Manning stands accused of leaking classified military and diplomatic documents to WikiLeaks. He has been held, awaiting trial, in solitary confinement at the Marine Corps Brig, Quantico, Virginia since July.

Among the other new charges Manning faces is “wrongfully causing intelligence to be published on the internet knowing that it is accessible to the enemy”. The military has not identified who it considers “the enemy” to be.

The US Army investigation has failed to find any link between Manning and WikiLeaks editor-in-chief Julian Assange.

It has been revealed that Manning has been forced to strip and sleep naked after having his underwear confiscated by guards at Quantico Brig, where he is under Prevention of Injury (POI) watch.

On March 5, Manning’s defence counsel David E. Coombs revealed the reason for Manning’s treatment on his blog, Armycourtmartialdefense.info: “PFC Manning inquired of the Brig operations officer what he needed to do in order to be downgraded from Maximum custody and POI.

“In response to PFC Manning’s question, he was told that there was nothing he could do to downgrade his detainee status and that the Brig simply considered him a risk of self-harm.”

Psychiatrists at Quantico where Manning is detained maintain that there is no mental health justification for his ongoing confinement under POI.

“PFC Manning then remarked that the POI restrictions were ‘absurd’ and sarcastically stated that if he wanted to harm himself, he could conceivably do so with the elastic waistband of his underwear or with his flip-flops,” said Coombs.

In Manning's first public statement since his arrest, an 11-page legal document released by Coombs, Manning said authorities at Quantico had “used my sarcastic comment as justification to increase the restrictions imposed upon me under the guise of being concerned that I was a suicide risk”.

Coombs pointed out that Manning remains under 24-hour surveillance, “with guards never being more than a few feet away from his cell”.

Manning said: “I am being treated differently from any other detainee at the Quantico Brig.

“While the PCF Commander follows the recommendation of the Brig Psychiatrist in dealing with other detainees, this does not happen in my case.”

Manning noted that most detainees remain on maximum custody or in POI status for about two weeks, but he has been “left to languish under the unduly harsh conditions” since arriving at Quantico on July 29, 2010.

This is not the first time the US military has forced detainees to strip to try to break down resistance. This sort of treatment was reportedly used routinely on prisoners held at Guantanamo Bay, an April 20, 2009 Newsweek.com article said.

This change in Manning’s conditions has been widely condemned, and has caused his father, Brian, to break his silence about the treatment of his son. He told PBS’s Front Line on March 11: “His clothing is being taken away from him and he is being humiliated, having to stand at attention in front of people that are fully clothed.

“This is someone who has not gone to trial, or been convicted of anything.”

In response to the interview, the Pentagon released a statement denying that Manning was made to stand naked.

This conflicts with Manning’s account, via Coombs. Manning said: “I was told to get out of my bed for the morning Duty Brig Supervisor (DBS) inspection. I was not given any of my clothing back.

“I walked towards the front of my cell with my hands covering my genitals. The guard told me to stand a parade rest, which required me to stand with my hands behind my back and my legs spaced shoulder width apart.

“I stood at ‘parade rest’ for about three minutes until the DBS arrived.”

Manning said the situation made him feel “incredibly embarrassed”.

“Although I am still required to strip naked in my cell at night, I am now given the ‘smock’ to wear.”

Manning has called his treatment “wrong” and requested his classification be reduced from maximum custody to medium custody.

[For more information, or for how to support Manning, visit http://www.bradleymanning.org.]