WikiLeaks’ Assange Freed while Alleged Leaker Bradley Manning Imprisoned under Inhumane Conditions

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Source: Democracy Now!
(with full transcript and related stories- ENG)
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WikiLeaks' Julian Assange, walking out from The Royal Courts of Justice in London,
Thursday, December 16, 2010, at night:

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"...he’s been held for seven months without being convicted of any crime..."

"...he is in solitary confinement, and
he’s not only in solitary confinement..."

"...released for one hour a day only...
barred from even doing things like exercising inside of his cell...
being denied just the most basic attributes...

such as a pillow and sheets..."

"...prolonged solitary confinement, which is something that the United States does almost more than any other country in the Western world... can have a very long-term psychological damage, including driving people to insanity and the like

"...and there are case laws — cases in E.U. jurisprudence where they have refused to extradite prisoners to some countries, such as Bulgaria, on the grounds that solitary confinement is a form of torture..."

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The inhumane conditions of Bradley Manning's detention

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UPDATE II (excerpt) by Glenn Greenwald for Salon Magazine
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Bradley Manning, the 22-year-old U.S. Army Private accused of leaking classified documents to WikiLeaks, has never been convicted of that crime, nor of any other crime. Despite that, he has been detained at the U.S. Marine brig in Quantico, Virginia for five months -- and for two months before that in a military jail in Kuwait -- under conditions that constitute cruel and inhumane treatment and, by the standards of many nations, even torture. Interviews with several people directly familiar with the conditions of Manning's detention, ultimately including a Quantico brig official (Lt. Brian Villiard) who confirmed much of what they conveyed, establishes that the accused leaker is subjected to detention conditions likely to create long-term psychological injuries.

Since his arrest in May, Manning has been a model detainee, without any episodes of violence or disciplinary problems. He nonetheless was declared from the start to be a "Maximum Custody Detainee," the highest and most repressive level of military detention, which then became the basis for the series of inhumane measures imposed on him.

From the beginning of his detention, Manning has been held in intensive solitary confinement. For 23 out of 24 hours every day -- for seven straight months and counting -- he sits completely alone in his cell. Even inside his cell, his activities are heavily restricted; he's barred even from exercising and is under constant surveillance to enforce those restrictions. For reasons that appear completely punitive, he's being denied many of the most basic attributes of civilized imprisonment, including even a pillow or sheets for his bed (he is not and never has been on suicide watch). For the one hour per day when he is freed from this isolation, he is barred from accessing any news or current events programs. Lt. Villiard protested that the conditions are not "like jail movies where someone gets thrown into the hole," but confirmed that he is in solitary confinement, entirely alone in his cell except for the one hour per day he is taken out.

View the whole story and continue reading at Salon...

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SEE ALSO:

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1. "...if justice is not always an outcome at least it is not dead yet..." - Some of the first words of a WikiLeaks’ Assange Freed on Bail
   
   
2. Brazilian President Lula da Silva pays public solidarity to WikiLeaks, condemns the "hunt" and attacks to Julian Assange, and yells at the Brazilian Big Media for not doing the same for the sake of The Freedom of Speech.
   
   
3. 60 Minutes with H.E. Lula da Silva & Eike Batista @ CBS
   
   
4. MasterCard and Visa blocked donations for WikiLeaks. Meanwhile... for Ku Klux Klan it remains all right! > Stephen Colbert clips some of the "best" (actually, worst) abominable talks and threatens made on Assange, and interviews Daniel Ellsberg, "The Most Dangerous Man In America".
   
   
5. Justice for Haiti: Beyond Aid and Debt Forgiveness

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