Britain risks losing its moral authority if it fails to officially challenge the US government on its "cruel and unnecessary" treatment of the US soldier Bradley Manning, parliament is to be told.
Ann Clwyd, chair of the all-party parliamentary group on human rights, will say on Monday evening that the UK's credibility in "places where human rights are not nearly so well observed" is at risk. She will call on the government to offer practical support to the British-based relatives of Manning, who is currently imprisoned on a US marine base, accused of leaking state secrets to the WikiLeaks website.
"I do not want us to get drawn into a discussion of the rights and wrongs of the WikiLeaks revelations. I would like us now to concentrate on the current conditions of detention for Bradley Manning," Clwyd is expected to say at the adjournment debate speech. "Manning's case is important because of the message it sends out to the rest of the world about what kind of treatment the United States thinks is acceptable for people in detention. And, for us, it is important what we say – or what we don't say – because of the message that it sends out about what kind of treatment we in the