US President Barack Obama on Tuesday slashed the sentence of transgender army private Chelsea Manning, who had been sentenced to 35 years behind bars for handing classified US documents to WikiLeaks.
Obama pardoned 64 people and commuted the sentences of 209 others — including 29-year-old Manning, who is now to be released in May — in one of his final acts as president.
Manning was convicted in August 2013 of espionage and other offenses after admitting to the leak of 700,000 sensitive military and diplomatic documents.
Photo: Reuters
The cache included military logs from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and cables offering sensitive — and often embarrassing — diplomatic assessments of national leaders and world events.
Then-Bradley Manning pleaded guilty and was sentenced by military court martial. She has since been held in an all-male prison, at times in solitary confinement, and has attempted to commit suicide twice.
Advocates had argued her sentence was excessive and pointed to the psychological frailty of the transgender soldier.
“This move could quite literally save Chelsea’s life,” Chase Strangio of the American Civil Liberties Union said.
Obama’s move was something of a surprise, coming in the midst of a scandal over election-related hacking.
Obama has imposed sanctions on Russian intelligence services over the hack of Democratic Party e-mails, some of which were released via WikiLeaks.
The White House had refused to be drawn on a possible commutation or pardon, but White House press secretary Josh Earnest did attempt to paint a stark difference between Manning — who admitted wrongdoing — and the likes of former US National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden.
Snowden fled to Hong Kong and then Russia in 2013 after revealing a highly classified global communications and Internet surveillance system. He was not on Obama’s list of commutations or pardons, but did tweet his thanks.
“Let it be said here in earnest, with good heart: Thanks, Obama,” he wrote.
Republicans expressed outrage at Obama’s decision.
“This is just outrageous,” US House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan said. “Chelsea Manning’s treachery put American lives at risk and exposed some of our nation’s most sensitive secrets.”
“President Obama now leaves in place a dangerous precedent that those who compromise our national security won’t be held accountable for their crimes,” he said.
Senator Tom Cotton, a Republican who is tipped as a possible future leader of the party, expressed fury at Obama’s decision, saying “we ought not treat a traitor like a martyr.”
“I don’t understand why the president would feel special compassion for someone who endangered the lives of our troops, diplomats, intelligence officers and allies,” he said.
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