Chelsea Manning, the convicted national security whistleblower, faces possible indefinite solitary confinement for allegedly violating prison rules.
The ex-intelligence analyst born Bradley Manning could be sanctioned over a number of seemingly trivial infractions, including procuring a Caitlyn Jenner cover issue of Vanity Fair and owning expired toothpaste, among several others, her lawyer said Wednesday.
Nancy Hollander, Manning's attorney, said a hearing is scheduled at the Fort Leavenworth on Aug. 18, for the Army private, USA Today reported.
"This is like prison disciplinary infractions in a civilian prison and there will be a hearing, but frankly it looks to me like harassment," said Hollander.
Among the charges reportedly filed against the 27-year-old are medicine misuse over the expired toothpaste, possession of prohibited property in the form of books and magazines while under administrative segregation, disorderly conduct for sweeping food onto the floor and disrespect for requesting her lawyer while speaking to a guard. All the above mentioned relate to incidents that occurred on July 2 and 9.
"It is not uncommon in prisons to have charges that to the rest of us seem to be absurd," Hollander explained. "Prisons are very controlled environments and they try to keep them very controlled and sometimes in that control they really go too far and I think that this is going too far."
Among the reading materials confiscated from Manning are issues of The Advocate, OUT, Cosmopolitan and Transgender Studies Quarterly, the books "I am Malala" and "Hacker, Hoax, Whistleblower, Spy — The Many Faces of Anonymous" and the U.S. Senate report on CIA torture, according to NY Daily News.
"I'm concerned that books have been taken from her — those books came to her legally and are clearly not a security threat," Hollander told The Guardian, adding that the toothpaste charge was "utterly ridiculous."
Meanwhile, as a response to the charges, Manning's supporters launched the online petition "Free Chelsea" on FightfortheFuture.org, detailing the list of her alleged violations, Gawker has learned.
Chelsea Manning was convicted in 2013 of espionage and other offenses for relaying more than 700,000 classified documents during an Iraq mission. She was sentenced to 35 years in prison for leaking diplomatic cables, war logs and battlefield video to the Wikileaks website in 2010.
