Bradley Manning is not a case of free speech. He only ever had access to the information he leaked under a completely unambiguous agreement with the US governme

Bradley Manning is not a case of free speech. He only ever had access to the information he leaked under a completely unambiguous agreement with the US government to maintain the secrecy of it. That, of course, does not justify torture. Even in a theoretical Jack Bauer world where it's OK to torture the bad guy to find out where the bomb is, it is clear that Manning had no such information. He should be tried in a court of law and be punished, for what he did was unambiguously criminal, but he, like anybody else, enjoys the constitutions protection against cruel and unusual punishment.