Manning’s prison sentence commuted
Chelsea Manning, the US army soldier who became one of the most prominent whistleblowers of modern times when she exposed the nature of warfare in Iraq and Afghanistan, and who then went on to pay the price with a 35-year military prison sentence, is to be freed in May after Obama commuted her sentence just three days before he leaves the White House. Manning, a transgender woman, will walk from a male military prison in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, on 17 May, almost seven years to the day since she was arrested at a base outside Baghdad for offenses relating to the leaking of a vast trove of US state secrets to the website WikiLeaks. Melinda Taylor, who serves on the legal team for Julian Assange, said that the WikiLeaks founder was “standing by” after pledging to agree to US extradition if Manning was granted clemency. Meanwhile NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden’s leave to remain in Russia has been extended for three years, his lawyer has said.