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The alleged treatment of a former Welsh schoolboy in a US military jail awaiting trial for leaking diplomatic cables has outraged human rights experts. Sion Morgan reports

A LEADING human rights expert has said the alleged treatment of detained US army private Bradley Manning would amount to torture.

Professor Malcolm Evans, chairman of the United Nations subcommittee on Prevention of Torture, was speaking at a conference in Cardiff where he was outlining ways to tackle torture in countries.

Manning, a former Pembrokeshire schoolboy, is being detained in a US military prison after being arrested last May for his part in the WikiLeaks saga.

The 23-year-old intelligence analyst is reportedly being subject to prolonged isolation, sleep deprivation, and being stripped naked in his cell.

He is facing a number of charges in the US for allegedly passing diplomatic cables to the website.

The UN has launched an inquiry into whether his alleged conditions amount to torture.

Although he refused to comment on Manning’s case specifically, Professor Evans said that leaving an individual in isolation and forcing them to remove their clothes is a form of torture, in his opinion.

He said: “One of the ongoing issues is what amounts to torture. I have long taken the view that holding a person in extended periods in types of conditions, particularly if it is in solitary isolation can, in my private, personal view, amount to a form of torture, deliberately to try to extract information.

“I can see how such things amount to torture when certain conditions are met.”

Labour MP Ann Clwyd has called on the Government to speak out against the “cruel and unnecessary” treatment of the WikiLeaks suspect.

She said Britain risked losing its “moral authority” by refusing to challenge the way she said he was being treated.

Protests against his alleged mistreatment have been held in cities across the world.

Amnesty International has called Manning’s detention “harsh and punitive” and urged Britain to intervene.

Last month, the US military unveiled 22 additional charges against Manning including the serious offence of “aiding the enemy”, which carries a potential death sentence. But the army said he would face possible life in prison.

Staff at the British embassy in Washington have expressed concerns to the State Department about the treatment of Manning, who has not been tried or convicted.

Professor Evans also spoke about how to prevent torture using international law and the work of his subcommittee.

He said: “We have to hold people to account for the crimes that they commit, but who is responsible?

“There are states themselves and there are individuals. Bringing claims against states in domestic courts have not been particularly useful. There has been more success by pursuing not states but by pursuing individuals.

“We have the right to visit all places of detention and interview all prisoners detained and have discussions and dialogues with the state about what to do with the detainees. We do three or four visits a year and they are 10-day long visits.”

Professor Evans highlighted the importance of having the mechanisms in place to keep checks on the countries who have signed up to the agreement.

He said: “We try to put things in place and there are particular safeguards for all prisoners taken into custody. This is hugely important as most torture will occur when prisoners are first taken into custody.

“It’s vital that people are not held incommunicado but that they are taken into custody where they are given the right to inform a third person about where they are and that they have access to lawyers.

“It’s far more likely that there are going to be forms of torture in countries who need to get a confession.

“The idea of prevention is built around the idea that all these things that are safeguards for detainees are in place and making sure that the conditions people are kept in are of the appropriate standards. The conditions that people are kept in can amount to degradable human treatment in itself.”

Amnesty International’s 2010 report documented torture or other forms of mistreatment in 111 nations around the world.

Their report reveals staggering figures about the vast number of states and governments the world over who abuse human rights in a variety of ways.

Human rights abusers enjoyed impunity for torture in at least 61 countries, the report states, while unfair trials were documented in at least 55 countries.

Some 30% of the world’s nations were holding prisoners of conscience in detention, while freedom of expression is repressed in 60% of the world.

Overall, the report considers human rights are abused in 159 of the world’s 190-odd countries.

Certain countries are singled out as notorious. Eritrea, Iran, Ghana and China are all documented to have committed grave abuses of human rights in the report.

In Iran, Amnesty reports tales of severe beatings, prisoners detained in tiny crates and light, food and water deprivation, as well as the systematic denial of medical treatment. At least 12 people are alleged to have died due to ill-treatment or the withholding of medical care in prison in 2009.