The famous army soldier that was incarcerated for leaking national secrets in 2010, Chelsea Manning, has reached to President Obama by asking him to release her in the upcoming days.
Manning is currently under a 35-year sentence after being declared guilty of charges for leaking classified information. She asked Obama for “clemency,” who is currently in his last eight days in the White House.
The crime of Manning includes the leaking of hundreds of thousands of war logs, embassy cables, and videos that showed the specifics of the U.S. modern warfare operations.
According to a report from NBC news, Obama has considered Manning’s request as she is currently on Obama’s short list for future commutation. Manning told The Guardian that she hoped to achieve Obama’s “clemency” as he knows that it’s her last chance in a long time.
After Obama leaves the White House and Donald Trump becomes President, Manning’s case is unlikely to be reviewed by the Republican POTUS. In a plea for mercy, Manning said that she has spent almost her entire life “either homeless, in the military, or in prison” and that she has not had the opportunity to life her life at fullest.
The U.S. Constitution grants the President the power to give “pardons” for distinct crimes or to commute several sentences. Manning’s lawyer, Nancy Hollander, also asked President Obama to review as she explained that six-year sentence is enough for her crimes.
“Chelsea has already been incarcerated longer than any other whistleblower. She is fragile. The army has an obligation to care for its soldiers yet has utterly failed her. It has failed to take care of her, and it is still failing to do so, and it needs to let her out,” Hollander said in an interview with the Guardian this Wednesday.
Edward Snowden pronounced on Manning’s plea
Whistleblower and currently exiled Edward Snowden talked about Manning’s case in a tweet he published early this Thursday.
Mr. President, if you grant only one act of clemency as you exit the White House, please: free Chelsea Manning. You alone can save her life.
— Edward Snowden (@Snowden) January 11, 2017
Manning, who is a transgender woman, has tried to commit suicide two times since she has been incarcerated and even went on a hunger strike “to demand treatment and access to medically prescribed recommendations” for her condition and gender reassignment surgery, as reported by CNN.
In December 2016, more than 100,000 persons signed an application that tried to success on granting Manning a sentence commutation. According to Obama’s guidelines, any petition that completes that number of signatures would receive a response in the next 60 days after its presentation.
However, the ending of that time lapse is right after Obama leaves the Presidency, so he isn’t forced to respond to it. However, an official declaration regarding the decision is expected on Wednesday.
In relation with Snowden, President Obama said in an interview back in November that he would not grant him a commutation or a presidential pardon despite having distinct civil rights groups on his back.
Source: The Guardian