Obama commutes sentence of WikiLeaks source Chelsea Manning

If Assange does indeed allow himself to be extradited, he will face charges surrounding his organization’s acquisition of documents from Manning, who leaked a massive trove of government documents to WikiLeaks. WikiLeaks published the video on the Internet with the title “Collateral Murder“.

In a tweet sent four days ago, Wikileaks said its founder would agree to the extradition if former U.S. intelligence officer Chelsea Manning was freed from prison.

In another case, Obama commuted the death sentence of an intellectually disabled man to life in prison. Then Manning began pushing for the military to provide her with sex reassignment surgery, something that had never been done before.

The commuting of Manning’s sentence has not been welcomed by all in the US. “We are grateful to President Obama, and we are hopeful for more commutations in his final days in office”. Manning has been jailed jailed for seven years of her 35-year sentence, after being convicted of leaking American military and diplomatic secrets to WikiLeaks in 2010.

Manning, who is held at the Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, military prison, accepted responsibility for leaking the material.

An earlier version of this story miscalculated the time Manning will serve before her sentence is commuted. It is in line with the Obama administration’s crackdown on whistleblowers, including the prosecution of more individuals under the Espionage Act than all previous administrations combined.

It’s not clear whether Manning’s transition, which came at a time when transgender rights are at the forefront of progressive causes, helped raise her profile to the president.

“I am not Bradley Manning [her name before she transitioned]”, she wrote.

Obama also pardoned 64 individuals, including retired Gen. James Cartwright, the former vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who pleaded guilty to one count of making false statements to federal authorities.

Manning accepted responsibility for committing the breach, which is one of the factors that led the United States president to make the decision, a White House official told reporters.

She attempted suicide twice past year, according to her lawyers, citing her treatment in prison.

He has taken these actions after Congress failed to pass criminal justice legislation that included alternatives to incarceration for nonviolent drug offenders, many of them minorities.