Free Bradley Manning-The Wikileaks Whistle Blower

January 21, 2011 Bradley Manning 'abused' - lawyers Ewen MacAskill Amer i can sol dier's lawyers say hold ing him in max i mum secu ri ty and putting him on sui cide watch breach es his rights The lawyer for Bradley Man ning, the army pri vate sus pect ed of leak ing hun dreds of thou sands of doc u ments to Wik iLeaks, has filed a com plaint that he is being unfair ly treat ed at the marine base jail in Vir ginia. David Coombs, Man ning's lawyer, said that hold ing him in max i mum cus tody over the last five months and plac ing him on sui cide watch amount ed to abuse. Coombs called for his removal from such tight mon i tor ing. The com plaint was filed on Wednes day and on Thurs day the marines down grad ed his clas si fi ca tion from sui cide watch to pre ven tion of injury. But Coombs argues that pre­ven tion of injury is not sig nif i cant ly dif fer ent in prac ti cal terms and is seek ing his removal from max i mum secu ri ty. Coombs, writ ing on his office web site, said that on Wednes day, against the rec om men­da tion of two foren sic psy chi a trists, the com man der of the Quan ti co jail, James Aver­hart, list ed Man ning as a sui cide risk, which meant he was con fined to his cell 24 hours a day. "He was stripped of all cloth ing with the excep tion of his under wear. His pre scrip­tion eye glass es were taken away from him. He was forced to sit in essen tial blind ness with the excep tion of the times that he was read ing or given lim it ed tele vi sion priv i leges. Dur ing those times, his glass es were returned to him," Coombs wrote. Man ning, aged 23, who had been based in Iraq, was trans ferred to Quan ti co on July 29 last year. He is fac ing court-martial later this year and faces a heavy prison sen tence if found guilty of leak ing clas si fied mate r i al. Coombs said that the down grad ing of Man ning from sui cide watch to pre ven tion of injury does not make much prac ti cal dif fer ence and that he remains under close scruti­ny. The guards check him every five min utes dur ing the day and Man ning is required to respond, Coombs said. "At night, if the guards can not see him clear ly, because he has a blan ket over his head or is curled up towards the wall, they will wake him in order to ensure that he is okay," Coombs said. He is not allowed to do exer cis es in his cell, only dur ing the one hour a day when he goes from his cell to an empty room with some gym equip ment. First Lieu tenant Scott Vil liard, a spokesman for Quan ti co, told the Wash ing ton Post: "The most impor tant thing is that we're not treat ing Pri vate Man ning any dif fer ent ly from any one else that would be in the same clas si fi ca tion. Whether it's max i mum cus­tody or pre ven tion of injury, he's being treat ed the same as any body else." There was "a respon si bil i ty to make sure that these detainees are safe, secure and make it to trial," Vil liard said. Man ning had been placed in max i mum cus tody because, the author i ties said, his escape could pose a risk to life, prop er ty or nation al secu ri ty.