Former U.S. political prisoner Ciaron O'Reilly stated from the steps of St. Paul's, "Bradley Manning and Julian Assange look like spending the rest of their lives in U.S. gulags for telling us about the true nature of these wars we are waging on Iraq and Afghanistan. Those of us who marched and acted against these wars need to be in proactive solidarity for both Bradley and Julian right now. This period is critical. From my own experience the more solidarity the resister gets the easier it is to sustain the anti-war resistance. We need to end these wars and free those who exposed and resisted them. They're in the docks for us, we're on the streets for them!"
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2011/11/489116.html
The United States Army scheduled an Article 32 pretrial hearing for PFC Bradley Manning, the Army intelligence specialist accused of releasing classified material to WikiLeaks. The pretrial hearing will commence on December 16 at Fort Meade, Maryland. (Army News Release PDF)
http://prisonradio.wordpress.com/
The defense attorney representing alleged WikiLeaks leaker Bradley Manning plans to call up to 50 witnesses at a pre-trial hearing scheduled to occur next month in Maryland, as well as introduce a number of unspecified motions, according to the organizers of a support group for the soldier.
The witnesses could include Daniel Ellsberg, famed Pentagon Papers leaker, who would talk about the benefit Manning’s alleged leaks provided to the public, as well as technical experts who would speak to the actual evidence on which the charges against Manning are based. The latter might include assessments of forensic evidence from classified networks and databases that contained the sensitive documents Manning is charged with downloading and leaking.
The information on the defense’s tactics came at a press conference on Tuesday held by representatives of the Bradley Manning Support Network...read more
http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2011/11/manning-50-witnesses/
Supporters of Bradley Manning protested his imprisonment at Quantico earlier this year. He has since been moved to Fort Leavenworth, Kan. (Evelyn Hockstein for The Washington Post) Bradley Manning, the Army private accused of leaking hundreds of thousands of classified documents to WikiLeaks, will appear for the first time in a military courtroom next month, roughly a year and a half after his arrest, according to Army officials.
The Army has scheduled a pretrial hearing for Manning, who faces more than two dozen charges related to his alleged leaking of classified material, for Dec. 16 at Fort Meade, according to the Military District of Washington, which has jurisdiction over the case.
The so-called Article 32 hearing is the military equivalent of a grand jury hearing, where a military judge will determine if there is sufficient evidence to proceed with a court-martial on charges that Manning endangered national security.
David Coombs, Manning’s attorney, said in a short post on his blog that the hearing was expected to last about five days.
Manning is currently being held at an Army facility in Fort Leavenworth, Kan. He was moved there after advocates raised objections to his treatment at a Marine brig at Quantico.
The former intelligence analyst is accused of providing WikiLeaks with documents related to the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, along with an estimated 250,000 diplomatic cables. Charges against him include what the military terms “aiding the enemy,” as well as wrongfully causing intelligence to be published on the Internet and violating Army regulations on information security.
If convicted of all charges, Manning faces a maximum punishment of life in prison.
Manning’s supporters, including those at WikiLeaks, have campaigned aggressively on his behalf, asserting that he should be treated as a whistleblower, not a criminal suspect.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/checkpoint-washington/post/bradley-manning-hearing-set-for-next-month/2011/11/21/gIQAdSAAiN_blog.html?tid=sm_twitter_washingtonpost
