This piece was reprinted by OpEd News with permission or license. It may not be reproduced in any form without permission or license from the source.
From Global Research
For heroically revealing US high crimes of war and against humanity in Afghanistan and Iraq, Manning was subjected to appalling affronts to her dignity and fundamental rights.
For nearly seven years as a political prisoner, US authorities ruthlessly violated her 8th Amendment protection against cruel and unusual punishment.
A genuine heroic figure, she's one of America's best, earlier proceedings against her shrouded in secrecy.
She was unjustly convicted on multiple phony counts of long ago outdated 1917 Espionage Act violations.
Detained for over 1,000 days prior to sentencing and imprisonment, she was horrifically mistreated tortured in solitary confinement, kept nude in her cell at night and outside for morning inspections, denied virtually every right free people take for granted.
Her years of detention and near-seven-year imprisonment resembled a living death like in Plato's Cave. People chained to a wall remaining there throughout their lives, shadows replacing reality.
Wrongful charges and proceedings against Manning were rigged to convict. Doing the right thing was no defense nor heroism above and beyond the call of duty.
Her horrific mistreatment is happening all over again. For justifiably resisting the Trump regime's attempt to incriminate her, along with wanting to use her grand jury testimony against Julian Assange, she is invoking her constitutional rights, refusing to respond to unjust questioning.
Refusal got her remanded into federal custody once again as a political prisoner, falsely charged with contempt detained indefinitely for refusing to give grand jury testimony. In the US, constitutional rights don't matter, nor protection under international and US statute laws.
A statement by her support committee said she's been placed in solitary confinement torture by other means. Isolating people in cages for days or longer is a flagrant 8th Amendment violation reflecting brutal mistreatment of the nation's most vulnerable.
Societies are best judged by how they treat children, the elderly, the infirm, their most disadvantaged and prisoners. The US fails on all counts.
Human and civil rights don't matter. US prisons are notoriously harsh. Isolated prisoners lack constructive activities. Visits are rare, direct contact with others denied, lousy food delivered through cell door slots, treatment designed to inflict emotional and physical harm.
The full Support Committee statement said the following:
"We condemn the solitary confinement that Chelsea Manning has been subjected to during her incarceration at William G. Truesdale Adult Detention Center.
(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).