In a rare rebuke to the U.S. government, the United Nations’ representative for torture, Juan Mendez, criticized America’s treatment of accused WikiLeaks source Bradley Manning, who is being held in a military prison. While Mendez has not personally met with Mendez yet, he accused the White House of stalling his meeting with the 23-year-old soldier. Mendez said he is acting on a complaint that the conditions of Manning’s detention “amounts to cruel, inhumane or degrading treatment or torture … until I have all the evidence in front of me, I cannot say whether he has been treated inhumanely.” Mendez said the government would only agree to a “private” meeting, not an “official” meeting. In an especially stinging comment, Mendez says he has only seen this type of behavior from authoritarian governments.
Read it at The Guardian
