The Skanner Newspaper – Jailed Chelsea Manning Gets Intelligence Ethics Award |

Details Written by Helen Silvis Published: 16 January 2014

A U.S. Army private, Manning was jailed for 35 years in 2013 for leaking U.S. video and documents that revealed abuses of civilians and other information embarrassing to the U.S. military and government. After her arrest she came out as a transgendered person. She currently is incarcerated in Leavenworth prison.

Manning's treatment in custody was described by Juan E. Mendez, aUnited Nations Special Rapporteuron torture, as cruel, inhuman and degrading. And prompted the resignation of State department official Phillip Crowley.

The award comes from theSam Adams Associates for Integrity in Intelligence, a group of retiredCIAofficers, and goes to someone in the intelligence world who takes a stand for integrityand ethics. It is named aftera Vietnam era CIAwhistleblower Samuel A. Adams.

In the press release, the group says:

A Nobel Peace Prize nominee, U.S. Army Pvt. Manning is the 25 year-old intelligence analyst who in 2010 provided to WikiLeaks the "Collateral Murder" video gun barrel footage from a U.S. Apache helicopter, exposing the reckless murder of 12 unarmed civilians, including two Reuters journalists, during the surge in Iraq. The Pentagon had repeatedly denied the existence of the "Collateral Murder" video and declined to release it despite a request under the Freedom of Information Act by Reuters, which had sought clarity on the circumstances of its journalists' deaths.

Release of this video and other documents sparked a worldwide dialogue about the importance of government accountability for human rights abuses as well as the dangers of excessive secrecy and over-classification of documents.

On February 19, 2014 Pvt. Manning - currently incarcerated at Leavenworth Prison - will be recognized at a ceremony in absentia at Oxford University's prestigious Oxford Union Society for casting much-needed daylight on the true toll and cause of civilian casualties in Iraq; human rights abuses by U.S. and coalition forces, mercenaries, and contractors; and the roles that spying and bribery play in international diplomacy.

On August 21, 2013 Pvt. Manning received an unusually harsh sentence of 35 years in prison for exposing the truth -- a chilling message to those who would call attention to wrongdoing by U.S. and coalition forces.

Under the 1989 Official Secrets Act in the United Kingdom, Pvt. Manning, whose mother is British, would have faced just two years in prison for whistleblowing or 14 years if convicted under the old 1911 Official Secrets Act for espionage.