Obama Commutes Chelsea Manning’s Sentence
All but four months of the prison sentence were commuted
New York Times reports that President Obama commuted all but four months of Chelsea Manning’s prison sentence drawing both praise and criticism.
Manning, formerly known as Bradley Manning, an Army intelligence analyst was convicted of leaking classified information exposing military and diplomatic activities around the world in 2010.
She accepted responsibility for leaking the material to WikiLeaks and claimed she was doing so to raise public awareness about the effects of war on civilians. Manning also claimed she was suffering from gender dysphoria when she leaked the files while deployed in Iraq.
Prior to the commute, Manning was serving a 35 year sentence of which she had completed 7. She will be released May of this year as opposed to 2045.
According to the report, the move has been widely criticized by Republicans with speaker Paul D. Ryan calling it “outrageous”. In a statement, Ryan said “President Obama now leaves in place a dangerous precedent that those who compromise our national security won’t be held accountable for their crimes.”
House and Senate armed services committees, Representative Mac Thornberry of Texas and Senator John McCain of Arizona who call Manning’s leak as “espionage” said they had put American troops and the country at risk.
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Image: Image:mathew lippincott under Creative Commons
