UK ‘avoiding’ Manning case

Labour MP Ann Clwyd also says Foreign Office is stonewalling Manning’s mother in not responding to letter The foreign secretary William Hague is “playing an avoidance game” over the case of Bradley Manning, the US soldier accused of downloading and leaking classified cables to WikiLeaks, according to Ann Clwyd, a Labour MP. The former human rights envoy to Iraq has also accused the Foreign Office of “continued stonewalling” of Manning’s mother, Susan. The charges against Manning include “aiding the enemy” – a capital crime. Manning’s mother wrote to the foreign secretary three weeks ago, asking British consular officials to visit her son in military prison to check on his physical and mental health, which she said was deteriorating. At the time she wrote her letter, Manning, 23, had been in custody since last May in conditions that provoked widespread criticism of the US military and government . He was being held in solitary confinement and on suicide watch, which required him to be stripped to just a smock at night and checked on repeatedly. Following sustained protests from human rights campaigners and others over his conditions, Manning has recently been transferred from Quantico, Virginia to a “more open” military facility in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. But Clwyd has criticised the FCO for not responding to Susan’s letter. A response should, she said, have been received in a week. “They seem to be playing some kind of avoidance game,” she said. Last Tuesday, Alistair Burt, parliamentary under secretary of state at the FCO, was forced by Clwyd to admit in the House of Commons that it has not had any discussions with the UN special rapporteur on torture, Juan Méndez, on the case of Bradley Manning. Burt also refused to answer questions from Clwyd about Susan Manning’s request for consular assistance. “Susan Manning also asked for any help that could be given, in Washington and elsewhere, to the family if they so request it,” Clywd said. “At the very least, Mrs Manning, who is very concerned by the situation of her son, should have had the courtesy of a reply.” Burt said the FCO is “limited in both what we can say and what we can do in this case” because Manning has apparently said he does not consider himself a UK citizen. That response, said Clwyd, is “disingenuous”. She pointed out that the FCO has already confirmed that although Manning does not hold a UK passport he is British by descent because his mother is Welsh. “Their refusal to respond to Susan Manning or support Bradley Manning can’t be [because of] a genuine confusion over his nationality, the responsibility the British government have for him or the conditions in which he is being held,” she said. “There is no room for genuine confusion over these issues,” she added, pointing to comments by Méndez, who has been investigating whether Manning’s treatment to date amounted to “cruel, inhumane or degrading treatment” or torture. “This avoidance game they are playing can only be completely deliberate,” she said. In her letter, Susan Manning wrote that she visited her son in Quantico marine base in February, travelling with her sister, Manning’s aunt and his uncle, but only she was allowed to see Manning. “I was very distressed by seeing Bradley. Being in prison is having a damaging effect on him physically and mentally,” she wrote. “I am worried that his condition is getting worse. I would like someone to visit him who can check on his conditions. If Bradley’s being a British national means that someone from the British embassy can visit him, then I would like to ask if you can make that happen. I do not believe that Bradley is in a position to be able to request this himself, so I am asking as his mother on his behalf.” Susan Manning, who divorced Bradley’s American father, Brian, when her son was a teenager, also asked Hague for consular support on her own behalf. “If I try [to] visit Bradley again, can someone from the British embassy help me and other members of Bradley’s family to deal with the US marine authorities and help with any other arrangements we have to make?” On 4 April, the FCO minister Henry Bellingham said the British embassy in Washington had expressed MPs’ concerns about the soldier’s treatment to the Obama administration. The FCO confirmed the foreign secretary’s office had received the letter, and said: “We will carefully consider Mrs Manning’s letter and will reply to her shortly.” Bradley Manning United States William Hague Foreign policy Amelia Hill Esther Addley guardian.co.uk

Posted by on May 5, 2011. Filed under News, Politics, World News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.