UN probing allegations US is 'torturing' soldier over leaks

Thursday, December 23, 2010

The United Nations is reportedly beginning an investigation into claims that Pfc. Bradley Manning is being "tortured." Manning was arrested in May, after allegedly leaking over 250,000 classified diplomatic cables to the whistleblowing website WikiLeaks.

Last week, it was announced that supporters for Manning lodged a complaint with the Office of The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights in Geneva, Switzerland, saying that the conditions of his cell and the treatment he is receiving, amount to "torture." According to Salon, Manning is not allowed to exercise, is denied bed sheets and pillows, and has been held in solitary confinement for 23 hours of every day since his arrest. According to Manning's attorney, David Coombs, a former United States Army major, and veteran of the Iraq War, Manning is only allowed to walk in a small room for exercise.

"[Manning is] taken to an empty room and only allowed to walk, normally just walks figure eights in the room. If he indicates that he no long feels like walking, he is immediately returned to his cell," stated Coombs to Salon.

The Pentagon denies that Manning is being tortured, saying he is being treated "fairly. We've been reviewed ... No concerns have been voiced from a (Department of Defense) perspective."

Have an opinion on this story? Share it!

Sources

Glenn Greenwald. "U.N. to investigate treatment of Bradley Manning" — Salon, December 23, 2010
"U.S. Military Assures U.N. WikiLeaks Suspect Treated 'Fairly'" — Fox News, December 22, 2010
Associated Press. "UN looking into WikiLeaks suspect's treatment" — The Washington Post, December 22, 2010

Share this:

This page is archived, and is no longer publicly editable.

Articles presented on Wikinews reflect the specific time at which they were written and published, and do not attempt to encompass events or knowledge which occur or become known after their publication.

Got a correction? Add the template {{editprotected}} to the talk page along with your corrections, and it will be brought to the attention of the administrators.

Please note that due to our archival policy, we will not alter or update the content of articles that are archived, but will only accept requests to make grammatical and formatting corrections.

Note that some listed sources or external links may no longer be available online due to age.

The text of this article is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 License