Bradley Manning Support Network’s PayPal Closed

Courage to Resist, the support group set up for raising funds in support of U.S. Army Pfc. Bradley Manning (the man behind a large number of the recent WikiLeaks documents), has been closed down.

“We’ve been in discussions with PayPal for weeks, and by their own admission there’s no legal obligation for them to close down our account. This was an internal policy decision by PayPal.”

“We exchanged numerous emails and phone calls with the legal department and the office of executive escalations of PayPal. They said they would not unrestrict our account unless we authorized PayPal to withdraw funds from our organization’s checking account by default. Our accounting does not allow for this type of direct access by a third party, nor do I trust PayPal as a business entity with this responsibility given their punitive actions against WikiLeaks-an entity not charged with any crime by any government on Earth.”

They have quite the mouthful to say about PayPal’s modus operandi, and I can’t say I blame them.

“They opted to apply an exceptional hurdle for us to clear in order to continue as a customer, whereas we have clearly provided the legally required information and verification. I think our dealings with PayPal should be a cautionary tale for any possibly controversial not-for-profit entity with a PayPal account. While there may be no legal obligation to provide services, there is an ethical obligation. By shutting out legitimate nonprofit activity, PayPal shows itself to be morally bankrupt.”

Manning is an American soldier who has been held in solitary confinement since June 2010. He is currently being held in pre-trial confinement at the Marine brig in Quantico, Virginia, and is not expected to face court martial until at least October 2011.

As of yet, Manning has not been convicted of a specific crime. The Support Network is dedicated to ending his illegal pre-trial punishment, they would like him to receive the proper civilian legal representation of his choosing. The Support Network has no organizational ties to WikiLeaks.