« First...102030...1,9571,9581,9591,9601,961...1,9701,9801,990...Last »

UK police reviewing policy on watching WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange because of cost

Posted on by

Published February 10, 2015

LONDON British police say they are reviewing the policy of keeping a watch on WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, who has taken refuge at the Ecuadorean Embassy in London.

Metropolitan Police Commissioner Bernard Hogan-Howe told LBC radio Tuesday police are reviewing options because of the resources used to keep tabs on Assange.

He said the round-the-clock guard is "sucking our resources."

Assange has taken refuge at the embassy since June 2012 to avoid extradition to Sweden for questioning about possible sexual assaults. He denies any wrongdoing. He says he fears being sent to the United States to face trial for his WikiLeaks work.

Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg said last week that it has cost roughly 10 million pounds ($15 million) to keep a police presence outside the embassy in central London.

Continued here:
UK police reviewing policy on watching WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange because of cost

Police: Assange security ‘sucking’ resources

Posted on by

The UK police says keeping watch on WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is sucking its resources.

We are reviewing how we can do that differently in the future because its sucking our resources in, Metropolitan Police Commissioner Bernard Hogan-Howe told LBC radio.

Hogan-Howe also said Met is reviewing guarding tactics as it faces funding cuts.

We wont talk explicitly about our tactics, but were reviewing what options we have, he added.

Hefty price tag

Figures disclosed to LBC radio suggest that UK police has spent some 10m on guarding Assange, who has been holed up at the Ecuadorean embassy in central London.

The whistleblower has been locked in the embassy since June 2012 and faces arrest if he leaves the site.

British police have been standing guard outside the embassy to prevent Assange from escaping.

Back in 2014, Scotland Yard confirmed that the security costs reached 9m in the first 28 months. The cost of a further three months policing is estimated to have taken the total figure to about 10m.

Read the original here:
Police: Assange security ‘sucking’ resources

Army Must Refer to Chelsea Manning As a Woman, Not Man …

Posted on by

Patrick Semansky / AP, file

Army Pfc. Chelsea Manning is escorted out of a courthouse in Fort Meade, Maryland, after the third day of her court martial on June 5, 2013.

Chelsea Manning, a transgender woman convicted of leaking national security secrets to Wikileaks, must be referred to with feminine pronouns or in a gender neutral way in legal papers filed in her appeal, an Army Court ruled.

In the order, dated Wednesday, the U.S. Army Court of Criminal Appeals said: "Reference to appellant in all future formal papers filed before this court and all future orders and decisions issued by this court shall either be neutral, e.g., Private First Class Manning or appellant, or employ a feminine pronoun." The order, signed by a court clerk, did not make the military change the name of the case in which Manning is referred to as Bradley and Chelsea.

Manning had sought the court order to force the military to use pronouns that conform to her gender identity; the military had opposed such requests, her supporters said in a statement. The Army and Pentagon didn't immediately respond to requests seeking comment.

In a legal filing dated Feb. 9, the Army opposed the request, citing a lack of legal basis and saying Manning didn't show how it was serve the interest of justice. The Army said it would use standard practice when an appellant's name changed during the course of legal proceedings including both to "avoid confusion" and would refer to Manning with masculine pronouns.

Manning revealed her gender identity as a transgender female after being convicted and sentenced to 35 years in the military prison at Leavenworth in July 2013. In February, the U.S. Army approved hormone therapy for Manning, saying since she'd been clinically diagnosed and as transgender and was confined to a military prison, it was obligated to provide and pay for her treatments.

"This is an important development in Chelsea's fight for adequate medical care for her gender dysphoria," Chase Strangio, an ACLU attorney representing Manning in her lawsuit seeking medical care for gender dysphoria. "That fight continues but at least the government can no longer attempt to erase Chelsea's identity by referring to her as male in every legal filing."

First published March 5 2015, 4:23 PM

Miranda Leitsinger is a reporter at NBC News. She started this role in February 2011. Leitsinger is responsible for long-term enterprise and breaking news coverage. Her beats include recovery from natural disasters and mass shootings, the LGBT community, income inequality, immigration and the Boy Scouts.

Read the original post:
Army Must Refer to Chelsea Manning As a Woman, Not Man ...

Hormone therapy approved for Chelsea Manning

Posted on by

WASHINGTON, Feb. 14 (UPI) -- Chelsea Manning, formerly Bradley Manning, has been approved for hormone therapy by the U.S. Army.

Manning was convicted of leaking classified military documents to the journalistic organization Wikileaks in 2013. She is serving a 35-year sentence with possible parole.

Manning announced in August of 2013 that she was a woman. "As I transition into this next phase of my life, I want everyone to know the real me," Manning said in the statement at the time. "I am Chelsea Manning. I am a female. Given the way that I feel, and have felt since childhood, I want to begin hormone therapy as soon as possible. I hope that you will support me in this transition."

In September of last year, Manning sued the Department of Defense for denying her hormone therapy. She is being represented by the American Civil Liberties Union

"After carefully considering the recommendation that (hormone treatment) is medically appropriate and necessary, and weighing all associated safety and security risks presented, I approve adding (hormone treatment) to Inmate Manning's treatment plan," Col. Erica Nelson, the commandant of the Fort Leavenworth Disciplinary Barracks in Kansas, wrote in a Feb. 5 memo obtained by USA Today.

Related UPI Stories

2015 United Press International, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Any reproduction, republication, redistribution and/or modification of any UPI content is expressly prohibited without UPI's prior written consent.

Popular Photos

Notable deaths of 2014

2015 Oscars: Red Carpet

Continue reading here:
Hormone therapy approved for Chelsea Manning

Chelsea Manning Can No Longer Be Referred To With Male Pronouns, Says Court Order

Posted on by

Chelsea Manning, formerly known as Bradley Manning, has won the right to she and her.

In a court order issued on Wednesday, it was made adamantly clear that henceforth, Chelsea Manning must be referred to in female or gender-neutral terms.

The court order stated, All future formal papers filed before this court and all future orders and decisions issued by this court shall either be neutral, eg Private First Class Manning or appellant, or employ a feminine pronoun.

However, Chelsea Manning will remain Bradley Manning, or he and him, for the previous legal proceedings before his/her transition.

Chase Strangio, a lawyer with the American Civil Liberties Union, which was involved in Mannings defense, said, The court rightly recognized that dignifying Chelseas womanhood is not the trivial matter that the government attempted to frame it as.

Chelsea Manning, who was convicted in 2013 of handing over more than 700,000 classified documents to WikiLeaks, has already won the right to the name change, the hormone therapy for her transition, and even womens underwear.

This is an important distinction for Chelsea, both personally and legally, Chelsea Mannings attorney, Nancy Hollander, told People. But its most important on a personal level.

You would not like being a called a man, Hollander said to a female journalist. And neither does she.

Despite all of her victories, Chelsea Manning hasnt won the right to live in female quarters where she is imprisoned at Ft. Leavenworth, Hollander said. But it seems Chelsea Manning wont fight that.

Hollander said of Chelsea Manning, She is housed with male prisoners, and will continue to be housed with them.

Read the original:
Chelsea Manning Can No Longer Be Referred To With Male Pronouns, Says Court Order

Guardian hires Wikileaks-player Chelsea Manning

Posted on by

Getty Images

US Army Private First Class Bradley Manning is escorted out of a military court facility during the sentencing phase of his trial August 20, 2013 in Fort Meade, Maryland.

The Guardian announced on Tuesday that it had hired Chelsea Manning, a self-proclaimed U.S. whistleblower, as a contributing opinion writer.

Manning is a former U.S. Army private who was convicted in 2013 of leaking classified information to Wikileaks. Manning was sentenced to 35 years in prison for what was deemed as one of the country's biggest leaks since the Pentagon Papers more than a generation ago.

Manning now identifies as transgender and was previously known as Bradley Manning.

The former U.S. private will write "occasionally from Fort Leavenworth prison on the subjects of war, gender and freedom of information" for the British publication's U.S. arm, Guardian Editor-In-Chief Katharine Viner wrote in a internal memo obtained by Politico. Viner said Manning will not be paid.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Read the original here:
Guardian hires Wikileaks-player Chelsea Manning

U.S. Military Approves Bradley Manning’s ‘Gender Reassignment’ Hormone Treatment

Posted on by

FORT LEAVENWORTH, Kansas The U.S. military has approved hormone treatments for gender reassignment requested by Army private Bradley Manning, who is currently serving a 35-year sentence on espionage charges.

According to reports, the treatments were approved byCol. Erica Nelson, commandant of the U.S. Disciplinary Barracks at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. The decision comes after a lawsuit was filed last September alleging that the Army was not doing enough to address his gender dysphoria, and that if he did not receive the treatment, he was at high risk for suicide.

Manning had changed his name to Chelsea in August 2013 after being sentenced to prison foradmitting to leaking classified information to Wikileaks, which includedmore than 700,000 documents, including battlefield reports and U.S. Embassy cables.

As I transition into this next phase of my life, I want everyone to know the real me, he wrote in a statement. I am Chelsea Manning. I am a female. Given the way that I feel, and have felt since childhood, I want to begin hormone therapy as soon as possible.

This months decision to allow the 26-year-old Manning to obtain the treatments is stated to be the first in military history.

Manning

After carefully considering the recommendation that [hormone treatment] is medically appropriate and necessary, and weighing all associated safety and security risks presented, I approve adding [hormone treatment] to inmate Mannings treatment plan, Nelson wrote in a memo.

We are thrilled for Chelsea that the government has finally agreed to initiate hormone therapy as part of her treatment plan, Chase Strangio, an attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union, told CNN. This is an important first step in Chelseas treatment regimen and one that is in line with the recommendations of all of her doctors and the basic requirements of the Eighth Amendment.

While Manning was granted his request for hormone therapy, he was also disallowed from growing his hair long.

The military continues to refuse to let Chelsea grow her hair like other female prisoners, a critical part of her treatment plan that has been recognized by her doctors, Strangio said.

See original here:
U.S. Military Approves Bradley Manning’s ‘Gender Reassignment’ Hormone Treatment

Snowden hopes to return to U.S., says he’s weary of tech

Posted on by

MOSCOW, March 4 (UPI) -- Edward Snowden has been living in Russia for two and-a-half years, and he wants to return home to the United States, he said Wednesday during a teleconference viewed by Canadian university students.

Considered one of the highest profile whistleblowers in American history, Snowden said he is working with his lawyers regarding the possibility of returning to the United States. Wednesday's teleconference coincided with the University of Toronto's release of a cache of classified documents purloined by the former Defense Department contractor.

In speaking to journalism students at Ryerson University, Snowden said he wants to return to the United States -- but only if he believes he will get a fair trial. His attorneys are looking into whether that's likely.

During the teleconference, Snowden also said he tries to use as little technology as possible because modern communication devices could be attractive targets for any type of surveillance. He noted one example, saying two cellphones left together overnight could give off all types of private and inaccurate information if someone's monitoring them.

"Is that the kind of world we want to live in?" he asked.

Snowden began his road of U.S. ostracization in late 2012 when he began contacting individuals in the media about the sensitive materials of which he'd come into possession. The following May, Snowden's story was printed in Britain's The Guardian -- which effectively blew the lid off the case. Knowing he faced perhaps serious repercussions, he traveled to Hong Kong just prior to the Guardian's report.

Snowden could have asked the media to withhold his name, but he refused to -- saying he felt that he had nothing to hide. After spending about a month in Hong Kong, he flew to Russia where the government granted him asylum.

U.S. authorities have since charged Snowden with espionage and have tried to have him extradited, but Russian officials have so far refused.

The archive, compiled by the Canadian Journalists for Free Expression and the University of Toronto's Politics of Surveillance Project (CJFE), includes every published document that was leaked by Snowden.

"We believe this tool is just the start of the many important stories to come, and hope this will help the public engage in conversation about government surveillance practices," said Tom Henheffer, executive director of the CJFE.

Read the rest here:
Snowden hopes to return to U.S., says he's weary of tech

Shailene Woodley: Edward Snowden Is ‘A Hero’

Posted on by

Jason Merritt/GettyImages.com Shailene Woodley: Edward Snowden Is 'A Hero'

Shailene WoodleycalledEdward Snowdena hero whilepromoting Oliver Stones upcoming biopicSnowdenabout the 31-year-old whistleblower. In the movie, Woodley plays Snowdens girlfriendLindsay Mills. AsGossip Copreported, after leaking classified National Security Agency documents to the media and facing espionage charges in the U.S., Snowden fledthe country and has been living in Moscow since 2013.

Woodley went on to sayshe thinks Snowden should be praised for his courage. I define a hero as somebody, who against the judgment of other people, if they believe something will positively impact the world and they choose to do it and honor their integrity thats what I sort of consider a hero, no matter how big or small a feat they create, she told E! News. And in that light, absolutely I think that Edward Snowden is a hero.

The actress, who has never spokento Mills or Snowden, would like to. You are the epitome of the word selfless, Woodley continued aboutSnowden. You did something knowing you wouldnt be able to come home, knowing that your country would have very mixed feelings and yet your integrity on what you believe was right or wrong or should be public knowledge was more important to you than almost your own comfortability and the life that you had lived for so long.

Woodley added, So I would like to say thank you to him.

Read more:
Shailene Woodley: Edward Snowden Is 'A Hero'


« First...102030...1,9571,9581,9591,9601,961...1,9701,9801,990...Last »