Chelsea Manning to be Released Following Barack Obama's Pardon

With the pardon from Barack Obama, the President of the United States, Chelsea Manning, a former soldier of the U.S. Army, will be released from prison. Manning was sentenced to 35 years in prison for providing sensitive military information to the whistleblower website WikiLeaks. The White House announced on Tuesday, January 17, just three days before Obama's term ended, that Manning would be released on May 17, less than four months from now. This former U.S. Army soldier, who served as an intelligence analyst in Iraq in 2009, was convicted three years ago for leaking thousands of classified documents and transferring them to WikiLeaks. In recent weeks, the Obama administration had been pressured by organizations advocating for freedom of information and human rights to pardon Manning. During the trial, Manning was known as Bradley Manning, but while in prison, she requested hormone treatment for gender transition and chose the name Chelsea. She was acquitted of the main charge of 'aiding the enemy' but found guilty on 20 other charges, including espionage. During the trial, Manning apologized for her actions, stating that she believed she was serving the American people. She claimed her goal in providing information to WikiLeaks was to spark discussion and debate in the country about U.S. military and foreign policy. Last year, reports emerged of Manning's suicide attempts and her hunger strike in prison. On the other hand, Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks, who had previously stated he would surrender to U.S. authorities if Manning was pardoned, merely thanked all those who fought for her clemency in response to Manning's pardon, without mentioning his earlier promise to surrender to U.S. authorities.