Wednesday, July 31, 2013

US GOVERNMENT ALL OUT FOR MANNING’S HEAD

By Belarmino Dabalos Saguing, Rome, Tuesday, 31.07.2013

News Item :Julian Assange says Bradley Manning verdict is 'dangerous precedent' as whistleblower faces 136 years in prison despite aiding the enemy acquittal  http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/julian-assange-says-bradley-manning-verdict-is-dangerous-precedent-as-whistleblower-faces-136-years-in-prison-despite-aiding-the-enemy-acquittal-8738615.html

Pvt. Bradley Manning

Bradley Manning, the former military intelligence analyst who gave classified information to the anti-secrecy site WikiLeaks in 2010and is facing charges of aiding the enemy, anhd many other charges from spionage, to computer fraud and theft of classified informations.


He was acquitted of aiding the enemy, the gravest charge laid against him by the US government. He was, however, found guilty of 19 other charges including espionage, theft and computer fraud.


 The acquittal on the aiding the enemy charge was a large if somewhat symbolic victory for the defence and to Manning supporters worldwide. All the other guilty verdicts - including six on charges of espionage - still mean that Manning faces spending the rest of his life in prison. 


According to Julian Assange of Wikileaks fame, “The verdict is a dangerous precedent and an example of national security extremism. It is a short-sighted judgment that cannot be tolerated and it must be reversed.”


"The government kept Bradley Manning in a cage, stripped him naked and isolated him in order to break him, an act formally condemned by the United Nations Special Rapporteur for torture. This was never a fair trial," Assange said from inside the Ecuadorean Embassy in London, his home for more than a year.

Press freedom advocates had warned that a guilty verdict on aiding the enemy could have cast a chill on journalists trying to hold governments to account and on would-be whistle-blowers.  But there was still widespread dismay among civil liberties groups over the full array of the other guilty verdicts.


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