Demand Progress, Fight for the Future, RootsAction.org, and Care2 will deliver 100,000+ petition signatures to Secretary of the Army on Wednesday
MEDIA ADVISORY FOR AUGUST 10, 2016
Press Contact:
Kate Kizer, kate@demandprogress.org, 240-349-6575
Washington, DC — This Wednesday, August 10, Chelsea Manning supporters will host a press conference by phone at 12:00 noon EST on the charges faced by Chelsea Manning in connection to her suicide attempt and efforts being made by supporters demanding that Secretary of the Army Eric Fanning drop the charges against Ms. Manning, and provide her with adequate treatment for both her gender dysphoria and her suicide attempt.
The press call will follow the delivery of more than 115,000 petition signatures to the Secretary of the Army and will feature Chelsea’s attorney at the ACLU, Chase Strangio, Pentagon Papers whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg, Fight for the Future’s campaign director, Evan Greer, who speaks to Chelsea on the phone regularly, and David Segal, executive director of Demand Progress, who assisted with the physical delivery of the petitions to the Secretary of the Army.
To receive call in details, RSVP to: christina@balestramedia.com or press@fightforthefuture.org
Ms. Manning attempted to take her own life after years of mistreatment in prison, and now the U.S. government is threatening to punish her further with serious new charges directly related to her suicide attempt in July, which could lead to her being placed in indefinite solitary confinement, among other consequences. Signatures come from petitions launched by grassroots activist groups supporting Chelsea: Demand Progress, Fight for the Future, RootsAction.org, and Care2.
Last year, a similar petition effort helped draw attention to Chelsea’s situation when she faced solitary confinement for minor prison “infractions” including possession of an expired tube of toothpaste.
“Adding additional punishment on top of Chelsea Manning’s already unjust sentence, and threatening her with indefinite solitary confinement for attempting to take her own life, is an egregious miscarriage of justice,” said Kate Kizer, campaigner at Demand Progress. “The government’s inhumane reaction to Ms. Manning’s attempted suicide is part of an ongoing pattern of mistreatment that appears to be an attempt to silence Chelsea’s important voice.”
“Chelsea Manning is a human being who deserves to be treated with basic dignity and respect,” said Evan Greer, campaign director of Fight for the Future, “The U.S. government’s treatment of her will be remembered as one of the most shameful abuses of power in our nation’s history. Everyone who cares about human rights should be speaking out against this cruelty and injustice right now.”
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