Under the Radar Blog Archives Select Date… September, 2020 August, 2020 July, 2020 June, 2020 May, 2020 April, 2020 March, 2020 February, 2020 January, 2020 December, 2019 November, 2019 October, 2019

DADT activist Dan Choi barred from Bradley Manning hearing

A retired Army lieutenant and prominent opponent of the military's Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy, Dan Choi, says he was wrestled to the ground and handcuffed Monday while trying to attend the hearing at a Maryland military base for accused WikiLeaks source Pvt. Bradley Manning.

"They said I was heckling. I definitely was not heckling," Choi said in a telephone interview Monday morning. "They used six MPs to pin me down to the ground. They handcuffed me. I still can’t feel my right hand. They were so rough they ripped my rank off, the epaulets."

Choi attended the last two days of Manning's preliminary hearing at Ft. Meade, wearing his full dress uniform, but he never made it into the courtroom on Monday.

Choi said that when he drove to the base Monday, accompanied by Pentagon Papers leaker Daniel Ellsberg, they were held at the gate for about ten minutes.

"They said, well, 'It's because you're wearing the uniform,'" Choi said. "I said, 'I'm allowed to wear the uniform. I have an honorable discharge.'…It's the first time I've had an issue with this from anybody."

Choi said when he and Ellsberg arrived at the courthouse, they weren't allowed into the courtroom because the session was underway. He said security personnel insisted they hadn't been delayed to keep them from the hearing, but Choi said he believed that was the reason they were delayed.

Choi said that while waiting in the courtyard near the courthouse, he called out the name of a sergeant who was handling a canine dog, but the soldier didn't respond. "Usually, when a veteran or a military officer calls out your name, you respond," Choi said. He said it was after he called the sergeant's name out a few times that he was arrested.

Choi said he was told he was resisting arrest by standing still as the MP's tried to arrest him. He said he was later released and was never charged, but has been told he cannot return to the hearing for as long as it continues.

An Army spokeswoman had no immediate comment on the incident.

Ellsberg made it into the hearing at a later break, but he too apparently got into trouble.

"Security sought to remove @DanielEllsberg from #Manning courtroom for saying hello & expressing support to Bradley during court recess," a WikiLeaks lawyer attending the session, Jen Robinson, said on Twitter.

No word on how he's getting home.