Amnesty to UK: Manning Is British —So Help Him

The US Army private accused of providing WikiLeaks with a vast trove of classified information is a British citizen and the UK should be doing more to look out for his interests, say rights groups. Bradley Manning, who has been held in a military prison since last July, is an American citizen but has also inherited British citizenship from his Welsh mother, the Guardian reports.

Manning is being held in solitary confinement and the UN has launched an inquiry into reports that his treatment amounts to torture. Amnesty International has urged the British government to ensure that the conditions of Manning's detention conform with international standards. The director of the rights group Reprieve likens the conditions aboard the private's floating brig to those of Guantanamo Bay. "The government took a principled stance on Guantanamo cases for British residents, so you would expect it to take the same stance with Manning," he says. (More WikiLeaks stories.)