Wikileaks trial to hear Bin Laden raider testimony

A US military judge has cleared the way for a member of the team that raided Osama bin Laden’s compound to testify in the trial of Bradley Manning, the private charged over the release of secret documents to Wikileaks.

Colonel Denise Lind yesterday ruled for the prosecution during Manning’s pre-trial hearing at Fort Meade, near Baltimore.

The US government said the witness collected digital evidence showing an associate of bin Laden provided him with documents Manning acknowledged sending to WikiLeaks .

Defence lawyers argued proof of receipt was not relevant to whether Manning aided the enemy, but the judge said the government must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that intelligence was both given to and received by the enemy.

Manning, 25, is accused of leaking the documents in 2009 and 2010, while working as an intelligence analyst in Baghdad.