- Title: ACLU says shortened sentence for Manning "saved her life"
- Date: 18th January 2017
- Summary: FORT MEADE, MARYLAND, UNITED STATES (FILE - AUGUST 14, 2013) (REUTERS) BRADLEY MANNING ENTERING MILITARY COURT FACILITY
- Embargoed: 1st February 2017 18:23
- Keywords: Manning Obama commutation prison WikiLeaks war transgender
- Location: NEW YORK, NEW YORK + FORT LEAVENWORTH, KANSAS + FORT MEADE, MARYLAND, UNITED STATES / UNKNOWN LOCATION
- City: NEW YORK, NEW YORK + FORT LEAVENWORTH, KANSAS + FORT MEADE, MARYLAND, UNITED STATES / UNKNOWN LOCATION
- Country: USA
- Topics: Crime/Law/Justice,Judicial Process/Court Cases/Court Decisions
- Reuters ID: LVA0055ZM0ND3
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: "Her life was absolutely at stake and this commutation, no doubt, saved her life," said American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) staff attorney Chase Strangio on Wednesday (January 18), one day after President Barack Obama shortened the prison sentence of Chelsea Manning.
Manning is the former U.S. military intelligence analyst who was responsible for a 2010 leak of classified materials to anti-secrecy group WikiLeaks, the biggest such breach in U.S. history.
Manning has been a focus of a worldwide debate on government secrecy since she provided more than 700,000 documents, videos, diplomatic cables and battlefield accounts to WikiLeaks - a leak for which she was sentenced to serve 35 years in prison.
Obama, in one of his final acts before leaving office, reduced her sentence to seven years.
During an interview from the New York City office of the ACLU, Strangio said, "Chelsea Manning is someone who acted on her conscience in the public interest. She has already served longer in prison than any other whistleblower in United States history. The military has made it very clear that they cannot incarcerate her under humane conditions. Her life was absolutely at stake and this commutation, no doubt, saved her life."
Manning, formerly known as U.S. Army Private First Class Bradley Manning, was born male but revealed after being convicted of espionage that she identifies as a woman.
Manning, who twice tried to kill herself last year and has struggled to cope as a transgender woman in the Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, men's military prison, accepted responsibility for leaking the material -- a factor that fed into Obama's decision, a White House official told reporters, speaking on condition of anonymity.
"Since Chelsea was arrested in 2010, she has faced brutal conditions of incarceration from long stretches of solitary confinement before her court martial to the systematic denial of her health care to treat her gender dysphoria to recently the use of solitary confinement to punish her for attempting to take her own life. When I visited her in the past few months, it was very clear that these conditions were really just taking their toll, that there is only so much that one human being can bear. And we were really afraid for her ability to survive one more year, let alone the 28 years that remained on her sentence," said Strangio.
The shortening of Manning's sentence angered some Republicans.
House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan said in a statement. Ryan, a Republican, said the decision was a "dangerous precedent" for those who leak materials about national security.
"Chelsea Manning's treachery put American lives at risk and exposed some of our nation's most sensitive secrets," Ryan said.
"As many have said over and over, no harm came from her actions," countered Strangio.
"The former Secretary of Defense Gates said at the time in 2010 that did this harm national security interests as people are saying? No. Did it cause embarrassment? Yes. So for embarrassment, she has paid a very serious toll of which really almost cost her her life. So I would really urge those detractors to look into her case and really learn the record. I truly believe that history will remember her as the hero that she is and will remember this action by Obama as one very much on the side of justice."
He added, "It is really preposterous to hear people saying that she faced no consequences for her actions. She has faced seven years in prison, torturous conditions, the systematic denial of her health care. She will be dishonorably discharged from the military. None of that goes away. Those are incredibly severe consequences."
Manning was working as an intelligence analyst in Baghdad in 2010 when she gave WikiLeaks a trove of diplomatic cables and battlefield accounts that included a 2007 gunsight video of a U.S. Apache helicopter firing at suspected insurgents in Iraq, killing a dozen people including two Reuters news staff.
So what's next for Manning?
"She will no doubt continue to be an advocate for justice, for the democratic principles that she has always held dear and for the transgender community. She feels an incredible responsibility to those that have supported her and I know that she will be a leader when she leaves prison," said Strangio.
The White House said Manning's sentence would end on May 17 this year. - Copyright Holder: FILE REUTERS (CAN SELL)
- Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2017. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
- Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
