The source of the United States diplomatic cables leaked to WikiLeaks, Bradley Manning (now Chelsea Manning), has revealed that he is receiving an appalling treatment in jail, and has therefore began a hunger strike in protest.
In 2009, Chelsea was assigned to the United States Armed Forces Army unit in Iraq as an intelligence analyst. Due to her position, she had access to many classified sensitive military and diplomatic documents. She downloaded them, leaking them to WikiLeaks in 2010.
She was later arrested, and in July 2013, was convicted by court-martial for violating the so-called Espionage Act of the United States. In August 2013, she was sentenced to 35 years imprisonment, with the possibility of parole in the eighth year, and to be dishonorably discharged from the Army.
According to a statement released by Chelsea through a member of the Chelsea Manning Support Network, she revealed she has been facing constant and overzealous administrative scrutiny from prison and military officials.
Her attorney has confirmed that the statement was from his client, and that Chelsea is going through a difficult moment in her life. The statement by Chelsea and her attorney’s confirmation has shed more light on a seemly psychological and physical challenge that Chelsea currently faces in prison. On July 5, 2016, it was widely reported in the media that Chelsea had attempted to commit suicide. She was later treated in hospital and discharged. Her attorney later said she has been charged with several administrative offenses, which could result in her being transferred to indefinite solitary confinement, as a result of the suicide attempt.
Chelsea wrote in the statement that she had been denied help for gender dysphoria. Apart from that, she has also been subjected to what she described as high-tech bullying by prison guards. She revealed she needs help, but is not getting it.
“I need help. I am not getting any. I have asked for help time and time again for six years and through five separate confinement locations. My request has only been ignored, delayed, mocked, given trinkets and lip service by the prison, the military, and this administration,” Chelsea wrote in the statement.
Chelsea said she began the hunger strike on Friday morning, Sept. 9, 2016. She will not voluntarily eat any food or drink, except water and taking prescription medication. She will also not voluntarily cut her hair.
The Guardian reports that although Chelsea has been granted access to hormones as part of her gender transition, she has been forced to wear her hair at standard military length for male soldiers. Her defense attorney, alongside the American Civil Liberties Union is fighting a legal battle, over that requirement.
After Chelsea’s statement was widely published by the media, some news outlets tried to contact prison officials at Fort Leavenworth where she is being held.
But prison officials referred all inquiries to the Pentagon’s Office of the Army’s Chief of Public Affairs. At the Office of the Army’s Chief of Public Affairs, an official said the office did not have immediate comment on the issue. The official further said that the Justice Department should be consulted, since it the one representing the Defense Department on the matter.
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Chelsea Manning out of prison and in for president. Hillary Clinton out for president and in for prison.
Bradley Manning is fortunate to be breathing the same air as the people of a free nation. He violated the security of the people through his actions, yet he still demands that the people of this great nation bow down to his requests.
There was a time when traitors were executed for acts less severe than those committed by Bradley Manning. Yet, like others, he uses the media to publicly shame Americans and the system that keeps him alive. There’s a special place in hell for traitors and subversives. And that place is too good for Bradley Manning.