Obama reduces sentence of WikiLeaks Chelsea

According to the commutation granted on Tuesday, Manning would now be released on May 17. The transgender soldier (formerly Edward Manning) has been lodged in prison after being convicted in August 2013. She also attempted suicide twice last year. 

The White House said after the commutation, Manning, a military analyst, would now be released on May 17, 2017. She was sentenced to 35 years of imprisonment on charges of illegally obtaining and passing on the classified documents to WikiLeaks. 

According to the White House, Manning’s offences included one specification of wrongful and wanton publication to the internet intelligence belonging to the United States, five specifications of stealing, purloining or knowingly converting US government records. 

It also included six specifications of wilful communication of information relating to the national defence, one specification of wilful communication of information in unlawful possession; and one specification of wilful communication of information relating to the national defence by exceeding authorised access to a US government computer. 

The New York Times said the commutation also relieved the Department of Defence of the difficult responsibility of her incarceration as she pushes for treatment for her gender dysphoria, including sex reassignment surgery, that the military has no experience of providing. 

Earlier in the day, the White House ruled out a similar commutation to Edward Snowden, who is currently on a political asylum in Russia. “Snowden should return to the US and face the serious crimes that with which he’s been charged.  He will of course be afforded the kind of due process that’s available to every American citizen who’s going through the criminal justice process,” White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest told reporters.