Bradley Manning

Army private Bradley Manning accused of leaking secrets is being abused, says friend | News.com.au

MONTHS of "inhumane" solitary confinement are taking a toll on the US Army private suspected of passing secret government files to WikiLeaks, a friend says.

"It has become obvious to me that Bradley Manning's physical and mental well-being are deteriorating," David House wrote on the blog Firedoglake, recounting a visit to the military brig where the accused soldier is being held.

"It's become increasingly clear that the severe, inhumane conditions of his detention are wearing on Manning."

Held at a military brig in Virginia at the Quantico Marine base since July, Manning, 23, has been placed under a maximum-security regimen because authorities say his escape would pose a risk to national security.

Under the strict rules, Manning is allowed out of his cell for only one hour a day for exercise outside or at an indoor gym, military officers say.


But Mr House said the Pentagon's description of conditions was contradicted by what he learned from Manning.

"He has not been outside or into the brig yard for either recreation nor exercises in four full weeks," Mr House said.

"When told of the Pentagon's statement that he indeed receives exercise, Manning's reply was that he is able to exercise insofar as walking in chains is a form of exercise," he wrote.

As a "precaution", prison authorities have decided not to issue Manning cotton sheets and instead have provided two blankets and a pillow made of material that cannot be torn into pieces.

Manning said that "his blankets are similar in weight and heft to lead aprons used in X-ray laboratories", Mr House said.

The army soldier was under a "Prevention of Injury" order that was the cause of some of the more strict conditions, Mr House said, even though Manning allegedly had been cleared by a military psychologist.

"What Manning needs, and what his lawyer has already urged, is to have the unnecessary 'Prevention of Injury' order lifted that severely restricts his ability to exercise, communicate, and sleep," he wrote.

The Pentagon has rejected allegations Manning is suffering from any abuse and insists he is being treated in the same way as other inmates under the "maximum custody" regime.

The WikiLeaks website has yet to disclose its source for a massive trove of classified US military and diplomatic documents published in recent months, but suspicion has focused on Manning, who worked as a low-ranking army intelligence analyst in Iraq.

Manning was arrested in May, and US authorities have yet to say when he will be put on trial on charges of violating federal criminal and military law, including transmitting classified information to a third party.

If found guilty, Manning faces up to 52 years in prison.