UK Intevenes for Bradley Manning

April 5, 2011, San Francisco, California The Bradley Manning SupportNetwork applauds the United Kingdom’s motion to intervene on behalf of the accused whistleblower Bradley Manning. Held in solitary confinement for over nine months, Manning is alleged to have leaked a video showing two employees of Reuters news agency being shot and killed by American soldiers. Today marks the one-year anniversary of the publication of that video on the whistleblower website WikiLeaks. In the House of Commons, Welsh Member of Parliament (MP) Ann Clwyd sponsored an early-day motion urging UK officials to confront the United States about the harsh pretrial confinement of Manning, who is held in conditions many have likened to torture. The motion has been supported by 37 MPs thus far. Henry Bellingham, the Foreign Office Minister, promised to raise the issue of Manning’s confinement conditions with the U.S. State Department. Manning’s mother is Welsh and lives in Pembrokeshire, and thus Manning can claim dual citizenship by birthright. Bellingham has acknowledged that Ann Clwyd’s “understanding of the British Nationality Act is accurate” – namely, that Manning automatically acquired U.K. citizenship at birth. “We welcome the support of the MPs, who join Amnesty International and activists worldwide in urging the U.S. to end this inhumane pretrial punishment,” said Jeff Paterson, steering committee member of the Bradley Manning Support Network and project director of Courage to Resist.org. “Thirty-seven British parliamentarians have shown their commitment to justice and a fair trial,” said steering committee member Mike Gogulski. “We hope to see twice as many American legislators respond with a similar motion.”The Bradley Manning Support Network has raised over $250,000 thus far toward the defense of the accused whistleblower. http://www.bradleymanning.org/ and http://www.couragetoresist.org/