The original content of Democracy Now! Headlines appears under the Creative
Commons BY-NC-ND 3.0 License (United States). For more, including their other
shows and media, visit www.democracynow.org.
November 29, 2012

Manning Psychiatrist: Officials Ignored Medical Advice, Imposed Harsh Conditions on WikiLeaks Suspect 
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


 
The psychiatrist who treated Bradley Manning while he was imprisoned at
the Quantico Marine brig said Wednesday that commanders there
consistently ignored his medical advice and continued to impose harsh
restrictions on the accused whistleblower even though he posed no risk
of suicide. Captain William Hoctor spoke as part of an ongoing pre-trial
hearing on the treatment of Manning, who is accused of giving a trove of
documents to Wiki Leaks. Manning’s psychiatrist said he had treated
prisoners at Guantánamo, but had never encountered military officials
so unwilling to heed his medical advice. He testified: "I had been a
senior medical officer for 24 years at the time, and I had never
experienced anything like this. It was clear to me they had made up
their mind on a certain cause of action, and my recommendations had no
impact." Manning’s lawyers argue the charges against him should be
thrown out because of his pre-trial treatment, which included being held
in solitary confinement and periodically forced to strip naked.

 

.