Lawyers acting for Bradley Manning, the US intelligence analystaccused of stealing classified diplomatic cables later made publicby WikiLeaks, may file for the charges against him to be dismissedon the grounds that the nine months he has been held in solitaryconfinement breach his constitutional rights. While Julian Assange,the founder of WikiLeaks, attended an extradition hearing in Londonyesterday accompanied by his court of celebrity backers and 100journalists, 23-year-old Manning spent another day in solitaryconfinement in his tiny, bare prison cell under conditions whichhave been described as inhumane and tantamount to psychologicaltorture.
The few visitors allowed access to Private First Class Manningsay that he points out that while his own reading material issubject to punitive restrictions, others, including Mr Assange, willprofit from books being published about the exposure of the cables.
One of those who visited the prisoner at the end of last month,the computer researcher David House, reported that Pfc Manning hastaken great interest in how new media has driven popular protests inEgypt and Tunisia and led to the fall of regimes.
But friends of the young soldier say that despite such lucidinterludes, they are extremely concerned about his mental condition,and report a decline in his mental and physical condition.
Pfc Manning's attorney, David Coombs, stressed that his clientwas the only detainee at the Quantico Marine Base in Virginia to beheld in "maximum" custody, while others were being held in lessdraconian "medium" detention. The authorities initially said thatManning was being kept in solitary confinement for his own safety,but friends now believe it is being done for punishment.
Legal analysts pointed out the ironic factor that Pfc Manning'sdeteriorating psychiatric state, allegedly the result of what he hasexperienced in detention, may undermine a possible US governmentline of prosecution of Mr Assange. The US Attorney General, EricHolder, is said to be considering what form of plea bargain may beoffered to the soldier if he were to incriminate the WikiLeaks chiefas a fellow conspirator in disseminating classified information.
Robert Feldman, a US lawyer specialising in security issues,said: "The view was that Manning was in such a fragile state that hemay offer something on Assange. But one can turn this around in acourtroom by pointing out that he may say things to placate theauthorities in order to get better treatment out of desperation.
"One can also say that if he has indeed been psychologicallydamaged then just how credible is his evidence."
But Mr Feldman added: "Would Eric Holder let the matter goeasily? No. If he does, people like Sarah Palin will tear him toshreds."
An online petition on behalf of Pfc Manning gathered more than30,000 signatures in two days with his supporters claiming thatattempts to find any evidence that he directly supplied material toWikiLeaks have failed. They claim that he remains incarceratedbecause the US Justice Department fears the wrath of the RepublicanRight if he is freed.
Adrian Lamo, a former hacker who has been in contact with PfcManning and eventually turned him in to the US government, told theFBI that Mr Assange had given the soldier an encrypted internetconferencing service as he was downloading government files as wellas a dedicated server for uploading them to WikiLeaks.
Mr Lamo claimed that Pfc Manning had "bragged" about this to him.In one email, now supposedly in the possession of the US JusticeDepartment, the soldier allegedly wrote: "I can't believe what I'mconfessing to you... I'm a source, not quite a volunteer, I mean,I'm a high-profile source... and I've developed a relationship withAssange."
The American authorities refused to comment on possible evidencethey hold on the case, but legal sources claimed that the emailcommunications between Pfc Manning and Mr Lamo may be " moreambiguous" than was previously thought.
The American website Wired, which claims to have had access tothe unpublished Manning-Lamo chat logs, has stated that they havefound no information in them pointing to Mr Assange as an instigatorof the leaks. Diplomatic sources have also revealed that prosecutorsare yet to find a "smoking gun" aimed at Australian- born MrAssange.
Meanwhile, US Representative Dennis Kucinich, a member of theCongressional Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, said hewill follow up on a demand he has made to Robert Gates, the USDefence Secretary, asking for access to Pfc Manning to investigatealleged mistreatment.
Mr Kucinich noted at the weekend that the allegations ofmistreatment, if true, "could constitute cruel and unusualpunishment in violation of the Eighth Amendment to the United StatesConstitution".
In his letter to Mr Gates asking for access to Manning, Kucinichsaid: "His care while in the custody of the Department of Defense isthe responsibility of the US Government, and as a member of theHouse Committee on Oversight and Government Reform it is my duty toconduct effective oversight."
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