BRADLEY MANNING | AMNESTY CONCERN OVER ‘INHUMANE’ PRISON CONDITIONS

WikiLeaks whistleblower’s treatment raised in Dáil by Sinn Féin

Pádraig Mac Lochlainn

THE Labour Party Foreign Affairs Minister, Eamon Gilmore, has been asked in the Dáil by Sinn Féin Foreign Afafirs spokesperson Pádraig Mac Lochlainn if the Irish Government will raise with the United States authorities concerns about the treatment of Bradley Manning, the US soldier accused of leaking classified cables about possible war crimes to WikiLeaks.
Manning is being held by US authorities in conditions that Amnesty International has described as “inhumane”.
US Army Private Bradley Manning was arrested in May 2010 on suspicion of passing information to Wikileaks and charged in July of that year. In March, more charges, including that of “abetting the enemy”, were added. The last charge is a capital offence though prosecutors have said they will not seek the death penalty.
Bradley Manning has not been tried or convicted of any offences but NGOs are concerned the conditions of his detention violate his human rights. These include 23-hour lock-up in a 72-square-foot cell, no association with other prisoners and severe limits on communication with the outside world.
During Private Members’ Questions on March 22nd, the Sinn Féin deputy, noting that “I, as much as anybody else in this chamber, respect President Barack Obama who made torture at Guantanamo Bay and so on one of the planks of his campaign,” urged the Government to raise these issues with the US Ambassador to Ireland.
In a number of answers to being pressed on the issue, Deputy Gilmore said he understood that President Obama had intervened and added:
“The United States of America ratified the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights in 1992. Article 10 of that covenant requires that ‘All persons deprived of their liberty shall be treated with humanity and with respect for the inherent dignity of the human person.’ I would expect no less from the US authorities than that they would ensure that Mr Manning is held in conditions which are in accordance with their obligations as a state party to the ICCPR.”