Chelsea Manning on hunger strike

Chelsea Manning, the whistleblower who is incarcerated in Fort Leavenworth for leaking classified government documents to WikiLeaks, has begun a hunger strike in prison as a response to what she described as “bullying” by the prison and US government officials.

On the Free Chelsea Manning website, Manning said she will go on hunger strike until she receives help for the gender dysphoria which she says pushed her to attempt suicide in July. She said she had reached the decision after six years of military confinement in five difference locations during which her appeals for help had been “ignored, delayed, mocked, given trinkets and lip service by the prison, the military, and this administration”. Last year, officials denied her request to grow out her hair, which her doctor recommended as part of her treatment for gender dysphoria.

She also called for an end to “the constant, deliberate and overzealous administrative scrutiny by prison and military officials”, which she referred to as “high-tech bullying”. I expect that this ordeal will last for a long time.

‘I am ready for this, ‘ she said.

According to Manning, from Friday morning on she will refuse to eat or drink anything, except water and prescription medication, and she won’t cut her hair until she is given “minimum standards of dignity, respect, and humanity”. Quite possibly until my permanent incapacitation or death. While still under observation at the barracks in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, Manning received a letter from army officials saying she could face solitary confinement for alleged offenses related to her suicide attempt.

I need help. I am not getting any. “I still haven’t gotten any”, Manning said in a statement released by a spokeswoman. “I have asked for nothing but the dignity and respect-that I once actually believed would be provided for-afforded to any living human being”, Manning said.

“Instead I am now being punished for surviving my attempt”, she wrote.

Her complaints also include being forced to cut her hair to the military’s length and grooming standards for males.

Ms Manning, who was arrested as Bradley Manning, was convicted in 2013 in military court of leaking more than 700,000 secret military and State Department documents.

Following her sentencing, Chelsea has respectfully requested that the US Government give her treatment for her gender dysphoria.

“I will not physically resist or in any way harm another person”.

The Army announced later that month that it would investigate Manning for misconduct in connection with the attempt to take her own life, a probe that could lead to indefinite solitary confinement, reclassification into maximum security or additional prison time. “They have known this for years”. “The government has always been aware of her medical needs and continues to ignore them”.