Whistleblower Chelsea Manning, serving 35 years in prison for releasing hundreds of thousands of US Army and diplomatic cables, exposing scores of human rights abuses, has a hearing today, 18 August, in which she faces indefinite solitary confinement as punishment for appallingly trivial charges. Manning, who already endured torturous pretrial conditions for which military judge Denise Lind took 112 days off of her sentence, is being penalised for possessing magazines like Vanity Fair and Cosmopolitan, the Senate Torture Report and “expired” toothpaste, as well as brushing food crumbs onto the floor and “being disrespectful” to a prison official. The website FreeChelsea.com documents the charges and hosts a petition supporting Manning with more than 100,000 signers.
As Courage Advisory Board member Norman Solomon writes for Al Jazeera,
Washington is determined to make an example of her, to warn and intimidate other would-be whistleblowers. From the president on down, the chain of command is functioning to wreck the life of Chelsea Manning. We should not let that happen.
Chelsea will not be allowed to have a lawyer with her during the hearing, which is closed to the press and public, and yet she was barred from visiting the prison’s legal library, crippling her ability to properly defend herself. Courage strongly condemns this attack on a heroic whistleblower who’s already been punished far too much.
Update
Chelsea Manning tweets, “I was found guilty of all 4 charges @ today’s board; I am receiving 21 days of restrictions on recreation–no gym, library or outdoors.”
And then, “Now these convictions will follow me thru to any parole/clemency hearing forever. Was expecting to be in min custody in Feb, now years added”