Chelsea Manning goes into seventh year in prison for whistleblowing
Chelsea Manning has completed six years in prison for whistleblowing, and now goes into her seventh year.
Private Manning, who announced her transition to female in 2013, is currently imprisoned in Fort Leavenworth military prison after leaking details of classified government documents concerning alleged war crimes and rights abuses via WikiLeaks.
Manning earlier this week appealed against her prison sentence, describing it as “unjust”.
Her appeal describes the 35-year prison sentence as “perhaps the most unjust sentence in the history of the military justice system” given the nature of her offence, which helped bring to light a number of serious abuses and powers.
It states: “No whistleblower in American history has been sentenced this harshly… Manning disclosed the materials because under the circumstances she thought it was the right thing to do.”
“She believed the public had a right to know about the toll of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the loss of life, and the extent to which the government sought to hide embarrassing information of its wrongdoing.”
PinkNews has regularly reported on Manning, who has sued the US Army for her right to transition behind bars but is forced to cut her hair short. Manning herself previously had her access to PinkNews clippings restricted.
The Electronic Frontier Foundation warned that clippings of news coverage sent to Manning via the prison postal service, including a PinkNews report, had been seized by prison authorities.
It is unclear on what grounds the clippings were removed.
