Worldwide Condemnation helps Manning

The US authorities have finally been stung by worldwide criticism of their treatment of serviceman Bradley Manning and have agreed to move him to a different prison. Manning is in custody awaiting trial having been accused of leaking state secrets to the Wikileaks website and has been held in conditions which have been condemned by many as 'amounting to torture'.

The Guardian newspaper has kept the story alive in the UK and have kept the focus on the military authorities holding him in inhumane conditions at Quantico Military Brig. In recent weeks, a rising tide of politicians and commentators, including UK MP Ann Clwyd, have made representations on behalf of Manning. His case has been taken up by a diverse range of human rights organisations, such as Amnesty International, and the pressure finally seems to have paid off.

It is not currently understood how the conditions at the new prison will differ from the old, but the move is seen as an acknowledgment that the criticism and scrutiny have dented the reputation of the U.S. - and deservedly so. The U.S. likes to preach to the rest of the world about human rights, but it has increasingly become an abuser of such rights in its own back yard. Much of the campaign to help Manning has been facilitated through social network sites. It certainly adds weight to the idea that when the watchers are themselves being watched, it is harder for them to get away with state-sponsored human rights abuses.

U.S. authorities - the world continues to watch.