Sat 10 Sep 2016 In: International News View at Wayback View at NDHA
Chelsea Manning, the US Army analyst who was court-martialed after disclosing to Wikileaks nearly three quarters of a million classified or sensitive military documents, has begun a hunger strike in protest at what she says is bullying by prison authorities and the US Government. Chelsea Manning Manning, serving a 35 year sentence, says she is being denied treatment for gender dysphoria. She has been given access to hormone treatment as part of her transition but has been forced to wear her hair at the standard short length for male military personnel. She and her supporters, who include the American Civil Liberties Union, says she is being subjected to “high-tech bulling” in the form of “constant, deliberate and overzealous administrative scrutiny by prison and military officials”. Manning says she has started the hunger strike, for which she will not take food or liquids other than water, because her appeals for help have been “ignored, delayed, mocked, given trinkets and lip service by the prison, the military, and this administration”. She was briefly hospitalised in July after a suicide attempt.
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Saturday, 10th September 2016 - 1:46pm