Bradley Manning is UK citizen and needs protection, government told

Gaurdian

Ed Pilkington in New York, Chris McGreal in Washington and Steven Morris guardian.co.uk,
Tuesday 1 February 2011

The British government is under pressure to take up the case of Bradley Manning, the soldier being held in a maximum security military prison in Virginia on suspicion of having passed a massive trove of US state secrets to WikiLeaks, on the grounds that he is a UK citizen.

Amnesty International tonight called on the government to intervene on Manning's behalf and demand that the conditions of his detention, which the organisation has called "harsh and punitive", are in line with international standards. Amnesty's UK director, Kate Allen, said: "His Welsh parentage means the UK government should demand that his 'maximum custody' status does not impair his ability to defend himself, and we would also like to see Foreign Office officials visiting him just as they would any other British person detained overseas and potentially facing trial on very serious charges."

Clive Stafford Smith, director of Reprieve, which provides legal assistance to those facing capital punishment and secret imprisonment, likened the conditions under which Manning is being held to Guantánamo Bay. "The government took a principled stance on Guantánamo cases even for British residents, let alone citizens, so you would expect it to take the same stance with Manning."

Manning is a UK citizen by descent from his Welsh mother, Susan. Government databases on births, deaths and marriages show that she was born Susan Fox in Haverfordwest in 1953. She married a then US serviceman, Brian Manning, stationed at a military base near the city and they had a daughter, Casey, in the same year. Bradley was born in Oklahoma in 1987.


http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/feb/01/bradley-manning-uk-citizen

The Russians would have been on this long ago if it was one of their citizens.

British according to the Brits even though you may be born elsewhere. I had a friend who had three citizenships and carried three passports, one American because she had an American mother, one British because her father was British and one of the nationality of the country she was born in. I hope Amnesty International prevails and that the Brits put pressure on our government to release him to their custody. No one should be treated like he has been treated without charges filed and a trial to determine his guilt or innocence.

to apply to claim that citizenship, if he does not already have the appropriate paperwork; perhaps it matters somewhat, for the processing of the application, how long he actually lived with his mother in Wales, or whether he ever held a UK passport, and whether (for example) he ever renounced, reclaimed, and then again renounced his UK citizenship. But none of that is likely to produce UK help in the present circumstances if he is a US citizen:

... Under international law, we cannot give you diplomatic help if you are in a country of which you are a national ...
Can I be a citizen of two countries? ...
Travelling abroad ...
http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/britishcitizenship/dualnationality/

You are, and will always be, British. I lived in the US for 20 years and I just got on a plane, went to the post office got a passport application, gave me £70 and got my passport two weeks later. There is no difference between my citizenship and anyone elses here. I'm not a UK subject or anything that denotes a lesser status. Honk Kong residents I believe are entitled to British 'Subject' status. I think if my parents would have been from Northern Ireland I could have gotten a UK AND Irish Republic passport.

I was surprised, in a good way for once. So fuck getting a student visa.