{"id":92579,"date":"2017-05-22T12:01:18","date_gmt":"2017-05-22T11:01:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=92579"},"modified":"2017-05-21T15:11:52","modified_gmt":"2017-05-21T14:11:52","slug":"chelsea-manning-released-from-military-prison","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2017\/05\/chelsea-manning-released-from-military-prison\/","title":{"rendered":"Chelsea Manning Released from Military Prison"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><em>American army private is free after serving seven years of 35-year sentence for leaking classified documents and videos downloaded to WikiLeaks.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/021065-chelsea-bradley-manning-051616.jpg\" ><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-73933\" src=\"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/021065-chelsea-bradley-manning-051616.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"272\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/021065-chelsea-bradley-manning-051616.jpg 860w, https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/021065-chelsea-bradley-manning-051616-300x136.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/021065-chelsea-bradley-manning-051616-768x348.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><em><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/us-news\/2017\/may\/17\/chelsea-manning-freed-from-prison-timeline\" >Timeline: Chelsea Manning\u2019s long journey to freedom<\/a><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/us-news\/video\/2017\/may\/17\/chelsea-manning-a-day-we-never-thought-would-come-video\" >.<\/a><\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><em>WATCH: <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/us-news\/video\/2017\/may\/17\/chelsea-manning-a-day-we-never-thought-would-come-video\" >\u2018A day we never thought would come\u2019: Chelsea Manning\u2019s legacy explained<\/a> <\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>17 May 2017 &#8211; <\/em><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/us-news\/chelsea-manning\" >Chelsea Manning<\/a>, the army private who released a vast trove of US state secrets and was punished by the US military for months in penal conditions denounced by the UN as torture, has been released from a military prison in Kansas after serving seven years of a 35-year sentence.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">First steps of freedom!! \ud83d\ude04<a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/kPPWV5epwa\" >https:\/\/t.co\/kPPWV5epwa<\/a><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/ChelseaIsFree?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" >#ChelseaIsFree<\/a> <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/0R5pXqA1VN\" >pic.twitter.com\/0R5pXqA1VN<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Chelsea E. Manning (@xychelsea) <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/xychelsea\/status\/864840675220754436?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" >May 17, 2017<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Manning walked out to freedom after 2,545 days in military captivity. She was <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/world\/2010\/jul\/06\/bradley-manning-charged-iraq-killings-video\" >arrested in May 2010<\/a> outside a US army base on the outskirts of Baghdad, having leaked hundreds of thousands of documents and videos downloaded from intelligence databases to WikiLeaks.<\/p>\n<p>The <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/us-news\/us-military\" >US military<\/a> confirmed that Manning was released on Wednesday morning.<\/p>\n<p>A couple of hours after her release, Manning said in a statement: \u201cAfter another anxious four months of waiting, the day has finally arrived. I am looking forward to so much! Whatever is ahead of me, is far more important than the past. I\u2019m figuring things out right now\u2013which is exciting, awkward, fun, and all new for me.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Manning\u2019s disclosures included <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/collateralmurder.wikileaks.org\/\" >Collateral Murder<\/a>, the footage of a US Apache helicopter attack in Baghdad in which two Reuters journalists and other civilians were killed.<\/p>\n<p>Her seven-year ordeal has seen her held captive in Iraq, Kuwait and the US, always in male-only detention facilities. In that time, she has <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/commentisfree\/2014\/dec\/08\/chelsea-manning-transgender-rights\" >waged a relentless legal battle<\/a> to be respected as a transgender woman, winning the right to receive hormone treatment but still being subjected to male-standard hair length and dress codes.<\/p>\n<p><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/us-news\/2017\/jan\/17\/chelsea-manning-sentence-commuted-barack-obama\" >Barack Obama granted Manning clemency<\/a> in his final days in office in January. In commuting to time served her 35-year sentence \u2013 the longest ever penalty dished out in the US to an official leaker \u2013 the outgoing commander in chief said that \u201cjustice had been served\u201d.<\/p>\n<p><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/us-news\/2017\/may\/13\/chelsea-manning-freedom-us-military-wikileaks\" >Speaking from her prison cell<\/a> as she prepared for release last week, Manning said: \u201cI\u2019m looking forward to breathing the warm spring air again.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI want that indescribable feeling of connection with people and nature again, without razor wire or a visitation booth. I want to be able to hug my family and friends again. And swimming \u2013 I want to go swimming!\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Obama\u2019s decision to release the soldier early leaves her with legal challenges still hanging over her. Foremost of those is the fact that her sentence from 2013 under the Espionage Act remains in full force \u00ad\u2013 a fact that her lawyers regard as ominous given the current incumbent of the White House.<\/p>\n<p>As a result, even in freedom Manning will continue to press vigorously for her sentence to be overturned. Her appeal, <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/us-news\/2016\/may\/19\/chelsea-manning-files-appeal-against-conviction\" >filed almost exactly a year ago<\/a> in the US army court of criminal appeals, argued that her 35-year sentence was \u201cperhaps the most unjust sentence in the history of the military justice system\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>Manning\u2019s appeal lawyer, Nancy Hollander, told the Guardian: \u201cPeople keep assuming that just because someone is released their appeal is over. The rest of her case is still out there and we want to clear her name. She was convicted of crimes that I don\u2019t believe she committed and her whole prosecution was unfair.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.couragefound.org\/appeal-fund\" >A fundraising drive<\/a> drive to help Manning raise the legal fees needed to keep going with the appeal has been launched by Courage Foundation together with the German branch of Reporters Without Borders and the Wau Holland Foundation.<\/p>\n<p>Manning\u2019s mother, Susan Manning, who is Welsh, told the Press Association that she was rejoicing at news of the release. \u201cI am so proud of Chelsea and delighted she will finally be free again.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Manning moved to Haverfordwest in Wales in 2001 when she was 14 to live with her mother, but returned to the US where she was born and brought up after school ended.<\/p>\n<p>Susan Manning said: \u201cIt is going to be very hard for her to readjust after so long inside the prison\u2019s four walls and I\u2019m happy she will be staying in Maryland where she has family to look out for her. Chelsea is so intelligent and talented, I hope she now has the chance to go to college to complete her studies, and to do and be whatever she wants. My message to Chelsea? Two words: \u2018Go, girl!\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Though Manning\u2019s release was greeted with a chorus of rejoicing on social media, one voice struck a more somber tone. David Coombs, the soldier\u2019s trial lawyer, put out a <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.armycourtmartialdefense.com\/2017\/05\/why-chelsea-mannings-release-is-nothing-to-celebrate.html\" >statement<\/a> in which he said that the 35-year sentence handed down to the Army private amounted to a \u201cgrievous wrong\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe day that Manning is released from prison should be a day of unadulterated joy for me,\u201d Coombs wrote. \u201cBut it\u2019s not. It is a day that I am reflecting on how the military justice system could veer so far off course.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The lawyer added that \u201cthe particular constellation of players involved in this case, the desire to make an example out of Manning, and the \u2018win at all costs\u2019 mentality of the prosecution created a powder keg where the ability to achieve a just result was impossible. So I don\u2019t see Manning\u2019s commutation as a victory. I see it as an unfortunate failure of military justice to do its job.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>_____________________________________<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/Ed-Pilkington.jpg\" ><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft wp-image-92580\" src=\"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/Ed-Pilkington.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" \/><\/a>Ed Pilkington is the chief reporter for <\/em>Guardian US<em>. He is a former national and foreign editor of the paper, and author of <\/em>Beyond the Mother Country<em>.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/us-news\/2017\/may\/17\/chelsea-manning-released-from-prison\" >Go to Original \u2013 theguardian.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>17 May 2017 &#8211; Chelsea Manning, the army private who released a vast trove of US state secrets and was punished by the US military for months in penal conditions denounced by the UN as torture, has been released from a military prison in Kansas after serving seven years of a 35-year sentence.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[139],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-92579","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-justice"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92579","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=92579"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92579\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=92579"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=92579"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=92579"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}