Obama Commutes Chelsea Manning Sentence
President Barack Obama has commuted the prison sentence of Chelsea Manning, allowing the former Army intelligence analyst who gave classified documents to WikiLeaks to walk free nearly 30 years early.
Manning, who will leave prison in May, was one of 209 inmates whose sentences were shortened by the outgoing President.
Manning has been serving a 35-year sentence and asked Mr Obama last November to commute her sentence to time served.
Manning was convicted in a military court in 2013 of six violations of the Espionage Act and 14 other offences for leaking more than 700,000 documents and some battlefield video to WikiLeaks.
The former intelligence analyst in Iraq has acknowledged leaking the documents but has said it was done to raise public awareness about the effects of war on civilians.
Chelsea Manning, who was known as Bradley Manning at the time of her 2010 arrest, is being held at the military prison at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.
Manning attempted suicide twice last year, according to her lawyers.
Chase Strangio, an American Civil Liberties Union lawyer representing Manning, said the president's action "quite literally save Chelsea's life.".
"We are all better off knowing that Chelsea Manning will walk out of prison a free woman, dedicated to making the world a better place and fighting for justice for so many," Mr Strangio said in a statement.
The US Army has declined to comment.
Obama’s move to release the US Army whistleblower also raises questions over the future of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.
Assange has been holed up at the Ecuadorian embassy in London since claiming asylum there in 2012.
He has repeatedly said he fears extradition to the US on espionage charges if he leaves the embassy.
However, last week the WikiLeaks Twitter account suggested that Assange would agree to US extradition if Obama granted clemency to Manning:
The WikiLeaks Twitter account, since then, has indicated that its founder is ready to face extradition to the US following Barack Obama's decision.
Chelsea Manning will be released on 17 May, almost seven years to the day since she was arrested at a base outside Baghdad.
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