A United Nations diplomat charged with investigating claims of torture said Monday [11 Apr 2011] that he is \u201cdeeply disappointed and frustrated\u201d that U.S. defense officials have refused his request for an unmonitored visit with Pfc. Bradley Manning, the Army intelligence analyst accused of passing classified material to WikiLeaks.<\/p>\n
Juan E. Mendez, the U.N. special rapporteur on torture, said his request for a private interview with Manning was denied by the Defense Department on Friday. Instead, he has been told that any visit must be supervised.<\/p>\n
Mendez has been seeking to determine whether Manning\u2019s confinement at a military brig at Quantico amounts to torture, following complaints about his treatment and an incident in which the private was forced to strip in his cell at night and sleep without clothing.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy request .\u2009.\u2009. is not onerous: for my part, a monitored conversation would not comply with the practices that my mandate applies in every country and detention center visited,\u201d Mendez said in a statement Monday, noting that at least 18 countries have allowed unmonitored interviews.<\/p>\n
Manning, 23, has been held at Quantico since July 29 and is awaiting a possible court-martial on charges that he endangered national security<\/a> by allegedly leaking classified military and diplomatic information.<\/p>\n For most of this time, military officials have kept Manning under \u201cprevention of injury\u201d watch, asserting that he poses a risk to himself. That means he spends 23 hours a day alone in his cell, with one hour allowed for exercise, and has no contact with other prisoners. He is allowed visitors for a few hours on the weekends. He must give up his prison uniform at night, though jail officials have now issued him a smock to wear.<\/p>\n U.S. officials have denied that Manning is being mistreated and have said that the circumstances of his confinement comply with U.S. law and Defense Department regulations.<\/p>\n Last month, however, P.J. Crowley, then the spokesman for the State Department, said the conditions of Manning\u2019s confinement were \u201ccounterproductive and stupid\u201d \u2014 a comment that angered the White House and prompted Crowley\u2019s resignation<\/a>.<\/p>\n On Sunday, the New York Review of Books published a letter <\/a>signed by more than 250 lawyers, professors and authors, including Harvard University constitutional law professor Laurence H. Tribe, that called the conditions of Manning\u2019s confinement \u201cillegal and immoral.\u201d The British government has also raised concerns about the issue.<\/p>\n In an interview, Mendez said that \u201cat first glance,\u201d Manning\u2019s case seems to be \u201cof interest to my mandate,\u201d which is to investigate cases of cruel, inhumane or degrading treatment and report them to the U.N. Human Rights Council.<\/p>\n To do his job, he said, he needs to be able to speak to Manning without witnesses, including guards patrolling nearby. Otherwise, he said, \u201cI cannot be sure Manning is being absolutely candid and honest with me if he knows that he\u2019s being monitored.\u201d<\/p>\n He said he is willing to see Manning nonetheless, if Manning wishes to see him.<\/p>\n The Defense Department has also denied requests for unmonitored visits with Manning by a representative of Amnesty International and by Rep. Dennis J. Kucinich (D-Ohio), according to the soldier\u2019s attorney.<\/p>\n nakashimae@washpost.com<\/em><\/p>\n