March, 04 2013, 01:31pm EDT
![Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR)](https://assets.rbl.ms/32012668/origin.png)
CCR Describes to Court Lack of Access to Trial of Bradley Manning in Last Four Months
New Filing Details Absurd Redactions, Vital Documents Withheld, and Orders Being Read in Court at Top Speed with No Transcript Provided
WASHINGTON
As part of its ongoing lawsuit to force public access to documents in the court-martial of PFC Bradley Manning, Center for Constitutional Rights v. United States, CCR today filed a supplemental declaration from Kevin Gosztola, a journalist who has been covering the proceedings and a plaintiff in the lawsuit. The declaration describes the continuing problems journalists have had covering the proceedings in the four months since final arguments were made in the case before the Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces, the military's highest appeals court, which has not yet issued a ruling. The declaration also describes problems with the batch of court orders finally released by the Army last week in response to a number of Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests from the media and pressure from CCR's lawsuit.
The declaration notes that the court-martial's rulings continue to be announced not by providing the press with a written order, but by the judge reading her orders out loud. According to those present, she spent two hours straight reading one decision last week, speaking at 180 words per minute as journalists trying to write about the decision that evening were forced to frantically take notes.
Said CCR President Emeritus Michael Ratner, "Some of the lengths to which the military has gone to prevent journalists and the public from following the trial of one of the greatest whistleblowers in our nation's history have bordered on the absurd. The entire arrangement could not be better calculated to diminish media coverage of Private Manning's case."
Despite the FOIA release last Wednesday of 84 of the trial court's orders, most of the parties' briefs have still not been released - over 400 other documents - nor have transcripts of the arguments in court been released. More important, as the case goes forward there is no indication that the trial court intends to let journalists have access to motions before they are argued in court, or to the judge's orders as they are released and while they are still newsworthy.
The Army did not release two significant recent orders: the judge's ruling, seven weeks ago, finding that Manning was unlawfully held in harsh conditions of confinement and granting him a sentence reduction, and the speedy trial order that the judge read out loud last week at top speed
The versions of the documents that were released contain redactions attorneys characterized as ridiculous - for example, the name of the trial judge is redacted from all 84 documents. In one document, information helpful to Manning's defense that was freely discussed several months ago in open court - the fact that the Apache gunship videos were not classified at the time of their release - is blacked out entirely.
Continued Ratner, "The last four months have simply served to reemphasize the urgent need for the Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces to rule that ordinary First Amendment standards for public access to trials - the same rules that apply in non-military criminal trials - should apply to court-martials as well."
A ruling would apply not only to Manning's case but to a number of upcoming military trials that are likely to draw widespread media attention, including those of accused Ft. Hood shooter Nidal Hasan, and of Robert Bales, accused of massacring 16 Afghan civilians outside Kandahar.
For more information, visit the Center for Constitutional Rights v. United States case page.
Jonathan Hafetz, a professor at Seton Hall Law School, is co-counsel on the case.
The Center for Constitutional Rights is dedicated to advancing and protecting the rights guaranteed by the United States Constitution and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. CCR is committed to the creative use of law as a positive force for social change.
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Labour Ditches Tory Plan to Oppose ICC Request for Netanyahu Arrest Warrant
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The United Kingdom's newly elected Labour government abandoned plans by its Tory predecessor to challenge the International Criminal Court's May application for arrest warrants against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.
Under Conservative leadership, the U.K. joined the U.S., Germany, and other Israel allies in condemning the ICC prosecutor's application for arrest warrants against the top Israeli officials for alleged war crimes in Gaza, including "starvation of civilians as a method of warfare" and "extermination."
The ICC prosecutor also applied for arrest warrants against Hamas leaders over atrocities committed in Israel on October 7.
As The Financial Timesreported, U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer "had until Friday to decide whether to make legal arguments to support questions raised by the previous Conservative government over the ICC's jurisdiction to issue warrants against Netanyahu and his defense minister."
A spokesperson for the Labour government said it would "not be pursuing this in line with our long-standing position" that "it's a matter for the courts to decide."
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Humanitarians applauded the government's decision. Rohan Talbot, director of advocacy and campaigns at Medical Aid for Palestinians, called Tory opposition to the proposed arrest warrants "a disgraceful attempt to delay justice."
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Trita Parsi, executive vice president of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, also welcomed the move and urged the government to "stop selling Israel weapons." Between October 7 and May 31, the U.K. government issued more than 100 arms export licenses to Israel, according to official figures reported by The Guardian.
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This is an open letter addressed to @POTUS, @VP , and @FLOTUS signed by 45 American physicians and nurses, about what we saw while working in Gaza. Please feel free to distribute. A PDF can be downloaded from the link and/or QR code on page 1. pic.twitter.com/LHVvmeAFad
— Feroze Sidhwa (@FerozeSidhwa) July 25, 2024
The letter was released as Netanyahu, fresh off his widely condemned address to the U.S. Congress, met separately on Thursday with Biden and Harris, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee.
In remarks following her meeting with Netanyahu, Harris said that "what has happened in Gaza over the past nine months is devastating," pointing to "the images of dead children and desperate, hungry people fleeing for safety, sometimes displaced for the second, third, or fourth time."
"We cannot look away in the face of these tragedies," the vice president added. "We cannot allow ourselves to become numb to the suffering. And I will not be silent."
Harris said she told Netanyahu directly to "get this deal done"—referring to a cease-fire agreement with Hamas—but, as expected, she did not break with the administration on supplying arms to the Israeli military.
While there has been no obvious policy change from the administration now that Harris has taken over for Biden at the top of the Democratic Party's presidential ticket, Trita Parsi of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft argued that the vice president "clearly broke with Biden on Israel in terms of rhetoric and tone."
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"Biden has disingenuously claimed that Hamas blocked a cease-fire deal," Parsi wrote on social media. "By saying that she urged Netanyahu 'to clinch the deal,' Kamala pointed to the real obstacle."
BREAKING: VP Harris speaks after meeting with Israeli PM Netanyahu
Harris calling for an immediate cease-fire deal to free the hostages.
The VP saying she “will not be silent" about the suffering in Gaza, the "devastating" loss of life and the "dire" humanitarian crisis. pic.twitter.com/Fe5QPoOuFh
— MSNBC (@MSNBC) July 25, 2024
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