Detention of Chelsea Manning 'Open-Ended, Progressively Severe Measure Amounting to Torture

[G_j]

https://www.commondreams.org/news/2019/12/31/un-expert-calls-detention-chelsea-manning-open-ended-progressively-severe-coercive?utm_campaign=shareaholic&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=facebook

Published on
Tuesday, December 31, 2019
byCommon Dreams

UN Expert Calls Detention of Chelsea Manning 'Open-Ended, Progressively Severe, Coercive Measure Amounting to Torture'

In a letter to the U.S. government, the special rapporteur on torture called for the immediate release of the whistleblower.

byJessica Corbett, staff writer

United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture Nils Melzer shared on social media Tuesday a letter he sent to the United States government last month expressing concerns that the continued detention of whistleblower Chelsea Manning amounts to torture.

The Geneva-based expert tweeted in the early hours of Tuesday:

https://t.co/uhqKoFSQSq

Manning, a former U.S. Army soldier, was initially detained in 2010, then convicted under the Espionage Act in 2013, for sending hundreds of thousands of U.S. government and military documents and classified materials to WikiLeaks. In January 2017, outgoing President Barack Obama commuted much of her 35-year sentence, and she was released in May of that year.

Since March 8, 2019—with the exception of a one-week period in May—Manning has been held in contempt of court at the William G. Truesdale Adult Detention Center in Alexandria, Virginia. Manning has been imprisoned—sometimes in solitary confinement—for her refusal to testify to a grand jury about WikiLeaks and its founder, Julian Assange, who is being held in a London prison as the U.S. government seeks his extradition.

Melzer, who also has publicly condemned the U.S. prosecution of Assange and the conditions of his detention, wrote in the letter (pdf) dated Nov. 1, 2019 that "I express serious concern at the reported use of coercive measures against Ms. Manning, particularly given the history of her previous conviction and ill-treatment in detention."

..more..

[comradebillyboy]

1. I can't gin up too much sympathy for Manning in this case.

This is what happens when a person refuses to comply with a legitimate court order. Manning seems to think she's above the law.

[ret5hd]

3. I dunno...when a UN expert calls it torture it may be too much.

Whaddya think...billy?

[comradebillyboy]

4. The US prison system certainly is harsh and needs reform.

But I'm going to disagree with the UN guy on the whole issue of prosecuting Russian agent Julian Assange. Once again Manning doesn't just get to blow off court orders with impunity. It's no worse for Manning than any of the non-celebrities in prison. She could walk out of jail today by agreeing to testify in the Wikileaks case.

Sorry but I am not OK with the Russian supported espionage carried out by Wikileaks in support of Donald Trump's election.

[ret5hd]

9. And also not OK with UN experts definition of torture?

[jberryhill]

18. This person has no familiarity with Manning's conditions of incarceration

None.

Would you care to describe what, specifically, this person independently assessed or inspected?

The upshot of the letter is that this person, who has no authority over anything in particular, believes that imprisonment for contempt is inherently “coercive detention”.

Well, duh, yes it is. That is indeed the POINT of imprisonment for contempt.

[jberryhill]

2. People need to make up their minds whether they want the rule of law or not

She is refusing to comply with a legitimate court order to testify before a grand jury.

She is not "special".

She is going to stay in jail until she decides that the law applies to her too.

Although that could work out well for her, since she has no other means of supporting herself aside from being a professional jackass, beggar, and alt-right stooge.

[comradebillyboy]

5. Well said.

[Quackers]

15. The court ordered her to comply, she refused. That's contempt of court.

Seems simple to me.

[guillaumeb]

6. Solitary confinment is torture.

Are we a nation that supports torture?

[Abnredleg]

7. It can be torture...

Or not. Depends on duration. While it often abused in our prisons, in this situation it is self-inflicted and Manning can end it at any time. If it is torture, the she’s the torturer.

She’s a traitor and gets no sympathy from me.

[G_j]

10. if the duration is more than a few weeks

Solitary confinement is considered to be a form of psychological torture with measurable long-term physiological effects when the period of confinement is longer than a few weeks or is continued indefinitely.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/almost-addicted/201801/solitary-confinement-torture-pure-and-simple%3famp

[Abnredleg]

11. She controls her fate

So it’s her responsibility for any resulting harm from her conduct.

[jberryhill]

14. "sometimes in solitary confinement"

Try reading the piece instead of making stuff up.

Did she threaten suicide again, like she did last time, and then claim that suicide watch was "torture"?

You think she is safer in a general population of prisoners who know damned well she can leave whenever she wants?

[jberryhill]

13. Read the slanted article

Not even the slanted article in the OP suggests she is being held in solitary for any significant length of time - "sometimes in solitary confinement".

The last time she was locked up, she threatened suicide and had to be kept under watch with no means to hurt herself - and the nitwit supporters of hers called that torture too.

You want to put her in the general population when every other prisoner there knows she can walk out any time she wants?

How about you go dig up the actual reasons why she is being kept apart from the general population, rather than some propaganda piece.

[Historic NY]

8. The facility is run by the Sheriff ..

[NutmegYankee]

12. She holds the keys to open her cell in her hands.

All she has to do is comply with the court order. Is it really torture if it's voluntary?

[oasis]

16. Solution: start singing sister. nt

[brooklynite]

17. Manning can walk out of jail any time she chooses to...

No sympathy from me.