The Support Network's David House

The Support Network’s David House is allowed to sue the United States for a suspicion-free search and seizure of his electronics. As the ACLU – who is representing House in the case – reports, a federal judge rejected the US government’s motion to dismiss House’s case, allowing his lawsuit to continue.

House and the ACLU argue that House was unlawfully targeted due to his association with the Bradley Manning Support Network. Many WikiLeaks supporters have been extra-judiciously targeted for search and seizure at airports and borders, and Support Network members have had difficulty accessing Bradley Manning’s court appearances.

As ACLU’s staff attorney says, “Despite the government’s broad assertions that it can take and search any laptop, diary or smartphone without any reasonable suspicion, the court said the government cannot use that power to target political speech.”

The ruling is here (PDF), and background on the case is here. (Read more…)

VIDEO: Daniel Ellsberg speaks at Occupy the Truth’s whistle-blower conference. Pentagon Papers whistle-blower discussed Bradley Manning’s case at a whistle-blower conference last month. Video of Ellsberg’s talk is now online, in three parts:

Part one: on Collateral Murder

Part two: comparing WikiLeaks’ releases with Ellsberg’s own case

Part three: explaining what supporters can do for Bradley:

Greg Mitchell marks Bradley Manning anniversaries. Publicizing his new book, Greg Mitchell marks the upcoming one-year anniversary of protests ending PFC Manning’s abusive treatment at Quantico in April and the two-year anniversary of Manning’s arrest in May. He quotes from Kevin Gosztola’s portion of the book, on how the military has made covering PFC Manning’s trial very difficult for the media:

“Goal? Aggravate and bother media to the point that they wonder if it is even worth it to cover the proceedings? Lose them somewhere along the way to the actual start of Manning’s trial? That way when the date finally comes for the trial the press won’t really know the scale of the games played by the government to interfere with the ability of Manning’s lawyers to defend him.

“Or, more insidious, prolong the pre-trial. Make the defense choose between a speedy trial or fighting for the right to evidence and potential witnesses to mount a proper defense. It’s up to Manning, but at this rate, he could be in pre-trial confinement for almost a thousand days before he finally gets to the first day of his trial.”

The book is out this week. Manning’s next court date is April 24, at Ft. Meade. (Read more…)

"Diego Campos, Spain. Lo único que me quita el sueño es la histotia de este HEROE. todo mi apoyo desde España para Bradley, familia y amigos. Free Bradley Manning!"

 iam.bradleymanning.org