Why do people keep bringing up the treatment of Manning in a military prison re: Snowden?

[struggle4progress]

122. Did you actually ever read what Juan Mendez wrote? In the end,

Mr Mendez confined himself to written correspondence with US authorities and decided not to actually interview Mr Manning, on the grounds that his request for a private and unmonitored interview with Mr Manning had been refused; he subsequently repeated the request; in the end, he simply confined himself to a theoretical statement that prolonged solitary confinement qualifies as torture, and I expect most of us will agree with that

I believe Mr Mendez stood firmly on a sound human rights principle here, and I am disappointed his request for a private unmonitored interview was not honored

However, my concern about US failure to respect this sound human rights principle in Mr Manning's case is somewhat tempered by the facts that Mr Manning was not being held incognito at Gitmo; that he was allowed visitors there; that he has had competent counsel; and that the principle of lawyer-client confidentiality is well-established in US law

Had Mr Manning actually been tortured, we should have expected to hear it directly from him or his lawyer

But Mr Manning apparently never claimed, for example, when his father visited, that he was treated badly; according to a Frontline report,

MARTIN SMITH: How many times have you visited him?

BRIAN MANNING: Approximately eight or nine times.

MARTIN SMITH: During those visits, has he ever mentioned any complaint of any kind to you?

BRIAN MANNING: No. I always, you know, am conscientious enough to look him straight in the eyes and ask him a direct question. How are they treating you? Are you sleeping? Is the food OK? And he’s always responded that: Things are just fine.

(See: http://blog.reidreport.com/2011/03/curious-bradley-mannings-father-contradicts-house-coombs-says-doing-well/ )

His lawyer would have been able to claim torture in the pretrial hearings -- but to the best of my knowledge did not do so. He did successfully argue that Manning was held on suicide watch or in prevention-of-injury status longer than necessary, and that such treatment should be regarded as unlawfully punitive, considering Manning's status as accused but not yet tried or convicted: IIRC the judge considered these claims established for a total of seven days, and Manning was granted a 112 day reduction in any ultimate sentence