Closing arguments were completed in the Bradley Manning case with a verdict expected tomorrow around 1 P.M. eastern. Presiding Judge Col. Denise Lind is deliberating 21 charges against the whistle blower including "aiding the enemy." Protesters around the world held demonstrations and rallies over the weekend demanding Manning's release; and on July 25th, a $52,000 dollar ad ran in the New York Times featuring a large type bold statement, "We Are Bradley Manning" against a field of names (photo left, via Tales From Out In The 1960s Be Bop Night). Those names included "American military veterans, artists, journalists, educators, homemakers, lawyers, and citizens" objecting to and outlining Bradley Manning's unjust imprisonment while demanding his freedom.
Also, 17 members of the European Parliament have signed an open letter to President Obama and U.S. Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel affirming support for Amnesty International's position that the most serious charges against Bradley Manning be dropped as he "reasonably believed he was exposing human rights and humanitarian violations."
Manning faces up to life in prison for releasing 700,000 documents to Wikileaks and other news sources in what amounts to the largest leak in U.S. history. Information included evidence concerning the routine killing of Iraqi and Afghan civilians by U.S. military, the shooting of two Reuters journalists, and facts around the indefinite detainment of prisoners in the notorious Guantanamo Bay prison.
Bradley Manning has since been nominated three times for the Nobel Peace Prize while indefinitely detained in prison himself, and he is widely viewed around the world as a wrongly vilified political prisoner of conscience.
Journalist Alexa O'Brien and attorney Michael Ratner discuss the ramifications of the case in the video below, with Alexa O'Brien having been in the courtroom since the beginning.
No comments:
Post a Comment