WikiLeaks, the Web site that has published thousands of confidential US embassy cables, has donated US$15,100 to the legal defense fund of Bradley Manning, the soldier accused of providing it with the digital trove.
WikiLeaks had been coming under mounting criticism from Manning’s supporters to honor a pledge made in July to take on board a substantial part of the financial burden of the soldier’s defense. The fund is managed by Manning’s Rhode Island-based lawyer, David Coombs.
Manning has been charged with the disclosure of unauthorized -material and is expected to face an article 32 hearing — the preliminary military procedure ahead of a court martial — in March. He was arrested in May in Iraq, where he was stationed on intelligence duties, and has been kept in solitary confinement for the past five months in a military jail at the Quantico marine base in Virginia.
WikiLeaks’ slow response in coming to the financial aid of its alleged source, who now faces up to 52 years in prison for having passed information to the Web site, has long been a cause of frustration for Manning’s supporters, although they have been hesitant to go public.
In the past, the Bradley Manning Support Network has indicated that WikiLeaks had promised to pay up to US$50,000 in legal fees, although that offer was reduced to US$20,000 last month and the payment ended up being US$15,000.
Part of the problem may be explained by WikiLeaks’ own financial difficulties as a result of Visa, MasterCard and PayPal cutting off its accounts after pressure from the US government.
The support network calculates that the legal fund needs to have at least US$115,000 in order to fight a vigorous defense. Including the WikiLeaks donation, it has collected more than US$100,000.
Jeff Paterson, a member of the support network’s steering committee, said the financial target had almost been met so the focus of the campaign would switch from fundraising to publicizing the treatment of Manning, which he said was inhumane.
“Internationally, people are speaking out against the unjust imprisonment of Bradley Manning, who is accused of acting out of moral conviction,” Paterson said.
Manning is being held in solitary confinement under a prevention of injury order despite having been cleared by a military psychologist this year.
David House, a Massachusetts Institute of Technology researcher who is allowed to visit Manning, has reported a steady deterioration in his condition. Last month the UN office on torture announced it was launching an investigation into the soldier’s treatment at Quantico.
Republican US lawmakers on Friday criticized US President Joe Biden’s administration after sanctioned Chinese telecoms equipment giant Huawei unveiled a laptop this week powered by an Intel artificial intelligence (AI) chip. The US placed Huawei on a trade restriction list in 2019 for contravening Iran sanctions, part of a broader effort to hobble Beijing’s technological advances. Placement on the list means the company’s suppliers have to seek a special, difficult-to-obtain license before shipping to it. One such license, issued by then-US president Donald Trump’s administration, has allowed Intel to ship central processors to Huawei for use in laptops since 2020. China hardliners
A top Vietnamese property tycoon was on Thursday sentenced to death in one of the biggest corruption cases in history, with an estimated US$27 billion in damages. A panel of three hand-picked jurors and two judges rejected all defense arguments by Truong My Lan, chair of major developer Van Thinh Phat, who was found guilty of swindling cash from Saigon Commercial Bank (SCB) over a decade. “The defendant’s actions ... eroded people’s trust in the leadership of the [Communist] Party and state,” read the verdict at the trial in Ho Chi Minh City. After the five-week trial, 85 others were also sentenced on
Conjoined twins Lori and George Schappell, who pursued separate careers, interests and relationships during lives that defied medical expectations, died this month in Pennsylvania, funeral home officials said. They were 62. The twins, listed by Guinness World Records as the oldest living conjoined twins, died on April 7 at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, obituaries posted by Leibensperger Funeral Homes of Hamburg said. The cause of death was not detailed. “When we were born, the doctors didn’t think we’d make 30, but we proved them wrong,” Lori said in an interview when they turned 50, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. The
RAMPAGE: A Palestinian man was left dead after dozens of Israeli settlers searching for a missing 14-year-old boy stormed a village in the Israeli-occupied West Bank US President Joe Biden on Friday said he expected Iran to attack Israel “sooner, rather than later” and warned Tehran not to proceed. Asked by reporters about his message to Iran, Biden simply said: “Don’t,” underscoring Washington’s commitment to defend Israel. “We are devoted to the defense of Israel. We will support Israel. We will help defend Israel and Iran will not succeed,” he said. Biden said he would not divulge secure information, but said his expectation was that an attack could come “sooner, rather than later.” Israel braced on Friday for an attack by Iran or its proxies as warnings grew of