Private Bradley Manning should win the Nobel peace prize, according to our readers.

Following a poll in which we asked readers to vote from a selection of main contenders, the US soldier accused of leaking more than 250,000 secret diplomatic cables to Julian Assange's WikiLeaks received almost 40% of the votes, relegating Assange himself to second place.

Manning, who has spent the past sixteen months in custody, received just under 2,500 votes in our poll. Assange received the support of over 1,000 voters, while Burman political activist Aung San Suu Kyi, was in third place, with 11.3% of the votes. The winner of the Nobel peace prize will be announced tomorrow.

Readers were invited to share the reason for their choices in the comments section, and were also encouraged to nominate candidates that did not appear on the list of main contenders.

alaysica was one of many who voted for Manning. She wrote:

IF Bradley Manning is responsible for allowing the world to see the shennanigans that have been going on in the name of western democracy and responsible government , then he must be the first on the list. Those "shennanigens" include horrifying acts of murder and torture . (and it is an IF, because this young man has STILL not received a trial after nearly a year and a half of imprisonment in the US in conditions suspected to be those considered worldwide as torture He is one of those men and women who tried to show the ordinary people of the world the truth of what is done in their name. He should receive the Prize for having suffered torture and imprisonment without trial for trying to show the world the truth, irrespective of personal risk

SteB1 added:

Aung San Suu Kyi is probably the most deserving conventional candidate. However, I think the selection of Bradley Manning would have the greatest impact on changing things for the better. The US has lost it's moral compass, and the US diplomatic cable releases did more than anything to expose the hypocrisy and sham of their moral position.

richard1980 had this view:

No to giving it to Assange. If you must reward Wikileaks and the impact they've had then give it to Bradley Manning. He's the one who did everything and crucially he is the one paying the cost. Assange's ego does not need further inflating. Manning and his actions though need to be remembered and praised.

Snusmumriken felt Aung San Suu Kyi would be a more productive choice:



I think Aung San Suu Kyi. Her release and the recent scrapping of the dam project in Burma indicates that there may be some readiness, however small, for the Burmese government to start listening to the wishes of its people. it is therefore a crucial time to remind the junta that the world is still watching and still cares and supports the cause of democracy and freedom for Burma.

Clunie explained her choice of Israa Abdel-Fatah, who received 1.9% of the votes:

I think they're all exceptional, but I voted for Israa Abdel-Fatah because she's an ordinary person who very literally risked her life to help change (or take a step towards changing) her country's history. Also, she'd be a great inspiration to other women in the Middle East who still face daunting barriers beyond the usual, as well as showing that you don't need to be an academic, politician, campaigner or high-up official to help overthrow a tyrant.

Finally, Abhinav used the comments section to offer this alternative suggestion:

I would vote for a posthumous award to Mohamed Bouazizi, the man who set himself on fire in Tunisia and sparked the biggest non-violent freedom struggle in recent times.



Thanks to all who commented and took part in the poll.