Chelsea Manning Faces Lifelong Punishment Over Suicide Attempt

By teleSUR

22 September 16

Manning was the source behind Wikileaks' classified documents on the U.S. military interventions around the world.

helsea Manning, the U.S. army private who leaked classified information about U.S. war crimes to WikiLeaks, will face a disciplinary committee Thursday that will decide on whether she will face indefinite solitary confinement after an attempted suicide.

Since she is not allowed to speak directly to the press, Manning spoke through an intermediary to VICE and said she lacked optimism.

"It doesn't matter what I say or do," said Manning. "The outcome is going to be the same."

Jailed in a military prison in Fort Leavenworth in Kansas, on July 5, 2016, Manning tried to take her own life and the military is seeking to punish her for it.

Manning identifies as a woman and has said she wants hormone therapy as soon as possible, but despite being a transgender woman she continues to be held at an all-male facility.

Manning, a former intelligence analyst in Iraq, was arrested in 2010 and sentenced to 35 years in prison in 2013 after a military court convicted her of providing more than 700,000 documents, videos, diplomatic cables and battlefield accounts to WikiLeaks in 2010. It was the biggest breach of classified material in U.S. history.

Manning ended a hunger strike last week to protest what she called a lack of respect and dignity from prison and military officials.

In 2012, the U.N. special rapporteur on torture said after a two-year investigation that Manning was subjected to cruel and inhumane treatment by the U.S. military. She has been held in and out of strict solitary confinement for the past five years.