Sunday, January 23, 2011

Visitors to see Bradley Manning were instead taken into custody/eventually released

 The Marc Steiner Show airs Monday through Thursday from 5 to 7 PM on WEAA 88.9 FM, The Voice of the Community, or online at www.weaa.org.   The call-in number is 410-319-8888, and comments can also be sent by email to steinershow@gmail.com. All shows are also available as podcasts at www.steinershow.org 

 

 There is usually a vigil to abolish the death penalty every Monday from 5 to 6 PM, outside the prison complex and across the street from Maryland’s Super Max Prison, at the corner of Madison Ave. and Fallsway in Baltimore.  Recently death row was moved out of Baltimore, but it was decided to continue the vigil. The next one is scheduled for Mon., Jan. 24. Call 410-366-1637.

 

 The All Peoples Congress has called an Emergency Protest & Pres Conference on Mon., Jan. 24 from noon to 1 PM outside the office of Gregg Bernstein, City State’s Attorney Office, Mitchell Court House, St. Paul St. and Lexington St. Charges have been reduced in an alleged attack by a former member of the Israel Defense Force on a Northwestern High School student.  The APC is demanding Eliyahu Werdesheim be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law for assault and hate crimes; disband the racist Shomrim vigilante group; and provide reparations and resources for the Lower Park Heights neighborhood.  There will be a call for a citywide protest on Feb. 15, 2011 when Werdesheim appears in court for misdemeanor charges. 

 

The incident happened on Nov. 19, when men from the Shomrim targeted a 15-year-old Black youth walking from school through the Upper Park Heights neighborhood. Shomrim member Werdesheim, CEO of the Baltimore-based security firm Sayeret Operational Solutions, confronted the youth, whose wrist was broken.  For whatever reason, the felony charges were dismissed, leaving only misdemenor charge. Call 443-909-8964.

 

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/01/activists-manning-held-quantico/ and more will be up on BradleyManning.org soon.

Activists delivering Bradley Manning petition held at Quantico

By Daniel Tencer
Sunday, January 23rd, 2011 -- 2:35 pm

 

afpbradleymanning Activists delivering Bradley Manning petition held at QuanticoActivist reporters who tried to deliver a petition protesting Bradley Manning's treatment by the US military were blocked from seeing Manning and held against their will at Quantico on Sunday, while their cars were towed on seemingly flimsy pretenses, the reporters say.

 

FireDogLake blogger Jane Hamsher told her Twitter followers that she was detained at the gate to the US Marine base at Quantico when she showed up to deliver a petition signed by 42,000 people, demanding that the US military take Bradley Manning -- the alleged source of the State Department cables released by WikiLeaks -- out of solitary confinement.

 

"Now been here at Quantico gate for 30 min.," Hamsher tweeted early Sunday afternoon. "Will not let us leave base, holding us."

 

David House, a FireDogLake blogger and computer programmer who is one of very few people authorized to see Manning, reported similar issues as he arrived at Quantico on Sunday to ask Manning about conditions in the prison.

 

"Detained for 40 minutes now upon entering base," he tweeted. "Advised that cannot leave."

 

House then reported that he would not be allowed to see Manning, that his car was searched and impounded, and that a military police officer reportedly told him the orders to do so "came from on high."

 

"I am on approved visitation list; have been visiting since September," House tweeted.

 

Hamsher said she was ticketed and her car was towed because she offered only electronic proof of car insurance, not a paper form.

 

"Can't leave base, can't go to brig, can't get my driver's license, [military officer] threatening to arrest us. Haven't done a thing," Hamsher tweeted.

Hamsher and House's detention was not resolved as of the time of publication.

 

The military's newly antagonistic attitude towards Manning supporters may have to do with his lawyer's declaration last week that the military was treating the accused Army private unfairly.

 

Manning was placed on suicide watch for two days last week, against the wishes of the jail's psychiatrist, lawyer David E. Coombs said. The Washington Post reported:

 

During this time, Manning was forced to stay in his cell around the clock, stripped to his underwear, the lawyer said. His prescription eyeglasses were taken from him, except for the hour of television he is allowed to watch or when he was reading, Coombs added.

 

On Wednesday, Coombs filed a complaint with Marine Corps Base Quantico, alleging that the commander of the brig, or detention facility, abused his discretion by placing Manning on suicide watch.

 

After his suicide watch, Manning was reportedly returned to "prevention of injury watch," under which he spends 23 hours a day in solitary confinement, has little access to outside media and has no pillow or blanket.

 

According to Coombs, even the "prevention of injury watch" is unnecessary in Manning's case.

 

Many of Manning's defenders say the US is trying to use its leverage against the Army private to pressure him into testifying against WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, something the New York Times suggested last month.

 

Manning has been held in some form of solitary confinement for at least the past six months. He faces charges the Army says could result in up to 52 years in prison.

 

The United Nations' special rapporteur for torture has reportedly launched an investigation into complaints that Manning's treatment at Quantico amounts to torture.

 

THIS IS A DEVELOPING STORY. PLEASE CHECK BACK LATER FOR UDPATES.

 

FireDogLake now reports that Jane Hamsher and David House have been released: http://fdlaction.firedoglake.c.../

It appears the entire intent of the detention was to prevent this week’s visit to Bradley Manning for unknown reasons. A timeline of his ordeal as a political prisoner can be found here: http://firedoglake.com/bradley.../

 

Letters and postcards to:

Bradley Manning
c/o Courage to Resist
484 Lake Park Ave #41
Oakland CA 94610
USA

Read more: http://www.bradleymanning.org/16034/breaking-news-manning-supporters-detained-by-quantico/#ixzz1BtaoekjZ

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