By Emma Cape, Chelsea Manning Support Network. March 17, 2014
The fight to free Army Pvt. Chelsea Manning is far from over. Our priority is now raising money to support a rigorous legal appeals process that will significantly reduce her unjust 35-year sentence. To hire a nationally renowned legal team that is willing to take this fight all the way up to the Supreme Court if necessary, Courage to Resist has just loaned $50,000 to the Manning Defense Fund. Now we need your continued support to keep this struggle for justice moving forward!
Manning was convicted on July 30, 2013 under the Espionage Act, despite many legal experts considering it outdated and unconstitutionally vague. She was also convicted of several other charges related to releasing classified data. Her final sentence was blasted by Amnesty International, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and a number of other prominent organizations and individuals because no evidence showed anything other than patriotic motivation on the part of Manning, or any indication that an enemy had used the information to hurt the United States.
She was imprisoned for over three years before trial, and was subjected to illegal pretrial punishment for her first year of incarceration, when she was held in isolation without access to regular sunlight or exercise. She was also subjected to a biased court martial—the government controlled the defense’s access to evidence, the Commander in Chief proclaimed her guilty before trial, and the judge allowed the prosecution to amend their charge sheet after concluding their argument. All of these injustices provide excellent grounds for appeals.
Manning has selected the attorneys Nancy Hollander and Vincent Ward to represent her in the US Army Court of Appeals, federal appeals and potentially even the Supreme Court. They come to this case with a strong understanding of its political importance, and a desire to obtain justice for whistleblowing while defending America’s civil liberties. Prior to law school, Ms. Hollander was an anti-war and civil rights activist. In 2001, she was named one of the country’s top 50 women litigators by the National Law Journal. Both she and Mr. Ward became well-known for their work representing prisoners held at the Guantanamo Bay detention camp, while continuing to work on other civil rights cases.
Manning, who came out publicly as transgender in August of 2013 while announcing her desire to live as a woman named “Chelsea,” is eager to change her name legally from “Bradley Edward Manning” to “Chelsea Elizabeth Manning.” She also wishes to receive Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT), which is recommended by doctors as appropriate treatment for her diagnosed gender dysphoria. Chelsea does not, at this time, wish to undergo any surgeries or to be transferred to a different prison. She reports that she has made friends at Fort Leavenworth, and only wishes to be able to live as herself. In the face of military opposition to Chelsea receiving HRT, the ACLU plans to assist trial attorney David Coombs in advocating for this treatment. To show support for Pvt. Manning’s intent to legally change her name to “Chelsea Manning” in the face of military resistance, we are renaming our organization and website to the “Chelsea Manning Support Network,” at chelseamanning.org.
The public’s desire for government transparency remains in many ways the center of Chelsea’s story. She was recently chosen as 2014 winner of the Sam Adams Award for integrity in intelligence, which is given by former CIA intelligence officials.
NSA whistle-blower Edward Snowden, who received the award last year, congratulated her at the ceremony by saying, “It is this extraordinary act of public service at an unbelievable personal cost for which we grant this award and our moral sanction to Chelsea Manning.” Since Mr. Snowden is also being charged under the Espionage Act, the outcome of Chelsea’s legal appeals is likely to affect any US attempts to prosecute him.
While accepting the Sam Adams Award, Chelsea’s childhood friend Aaron Kirkhouse explained, “I am now accepting this… for the release of a video and documents that ‘sparked a worldwide dialogue about the importance of government accountability for human rights abuses.’ To echo a maxim from Milton and Rose Friedman: A society that puts secrecy—in the sense of state secrecy—ahead of transparency and accountability will end up neither secure nor free.”
Additionally, the San Francisco Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Pride Celebration Committee has responded to the efforts of thousands of San Francisco activists by electing Chelsea as an honorary Grand Marshal for the 2014 parade. The annual SF Pride celebration is the largest of its kind in the United States, attracting up to 1.8 million people from around the world. Last year Manning had been elected a Grand Marshal through a different process, but the honor was later revoked by the 2013 board of directors. Thanks to the dedication of our supporters, the 2014 board has decided to redress that controversy.
Also thanks to the generous contributions of our supporters, Chelsea now receives high-quality newspapers on a daily basis. At Chelsea’s request, the Support Network has purchased her daily print subscriptions to The New York Times and the Washington Post. Additionally, since Chelsea plans to enroll in college classes next September to work toward a degree in Pre-Law and Political Science, Support Network staff will be helping to coordinate independent studies with professors who can offer her more personalized curriculum.
There are three primary ways that activists and volunteers can take action to support Chelsea Manning and her struggle for government accountability at this point in time:
1) First, if you have not done so, you can sign our petition asking President Obama for a pardon. When you sign the petition we will mail a letter on your behalf to both the White House and the court martial Convening Authority. Our petition can be accessed at privatemanning.org/pardonpetition
2) We also encourage you to organize a dinner party, speaking events and/or concert in your home community to help raise money to defend Chelsea. To learn more about organizing an event, please e-mail emma(at)privatemanning.org
3) This summer, LGBT Pride events will be taking place across the country. We encourage you to organize a Chelsea Manning contingent at your local pride celebration. Last year, the Manning group was the largest non-corporate contingent in the San Francisco Pride Parade and gained wide community recognition as a result! Visit privatemanning.org/events to register your contingent and receive materials for use at your event.