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

HeadlineNov 29, 2012

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 pretrial hearing on the treatment of Manning, who is accused of giving a trove of documents to WikiLeaks. 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 pretrial treatment, which included being held in solitary confinement and periodically forced to strip naked.

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