FORT MEADE, MD – FEBRUARY 23: Army Private Bradley Manning is escorted away from his Article 32 hearing February 23, 2012 in Fort Meade, Maryland. During the hearing, Manning deferred his plea to the 22 charges against him and deferred a decision over whether he wanted a military judge or a jury to hear his case. (Photo by Mark Wilson/Getty Images)
Credit: Getty Images
Chelsea Manning, the former US Army intelligence analyst who was convicted of leaking thousands classified documents to Wikileaks during the Iraq War, will be released next week.
Manning, whose disclosures include the harrowing Collateral Murder film, was originally sentenced to 35 years in jail in 2013, but her sentence was commuted by President Obama during his last few days in office.
Representatives of Manning, speaking to Al Jazeera, would not confirm the exact release day. However, a White House statement issued in January penned the release date as May 17 — or next Wednesday.
On her official Twitter page, Manning said in response to her impending release, “Freedom was only a dream, and hard to imagine. Now it’s here! You kept me alive <3.”
Manning had reportedly made several suicide attempts while incarcerated, and last year, she went on hunger strike in order to protest conditions in Fort Leavenworth.
Her early release is a happy end to what has been an ugly and brutal few years for the whistleblower.
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