In a letter made public last week, Nils Melzer, the U.N. special rapporteur on torture, accused U.S. authorities of violating the international human rights obligations of the United States by imposing on Manning “open-ended, progressively severe” penalties that fulfill “all the constitutive elements of torture, or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment.

Manning, 32, has spent nearly 300 days in an Alexandra jail in Virginia since she was first subpoenaed to testify in March. She spent 28 days in solitary confinement conditions. Prosecutors say the jail time is intended to coerce Manning into testifying. As she faces no criminal charges, her confinement, by law, cannot be punitive.

Manning’s attorneys have argued that the sanctions have proven ineffective and that no amount of jail time will compel her to testify. She’s said she feels a moral obligation to resist testifying before the grand jury, a secretive process closed to the public. Even the attorneys of those subpoenaed cannot attend.

“Nearly every other legal system in the world condemns coercive confinement, and long ago replaced secret grand juries with public hearings,” Manning’s statement reads. “I am thrilled to see the practice of coercive confinement called out for what it is: incompatible with international human rights standards. Regardless, even knowing I am very likely to stay in jail for an even longer time, I’m never backing down.”

Manning also faces a daily fine of $1,000 for each day she refuses to cooperate.

In 2013, Juan E. Méndez, the former U.N. special rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, called for a prohibition on prolonged solitary confinement citing “grave and irreparable harm” including “changes in brain functions” and other harmful psychological effects, which, he said, “can become irreversible.”

https://gizmodo.com/chelsea-manning-responds-after-top-u-n-official-labels-1840771479