New York [U.S.] May 17 : Chelsea Manning has been released from a military prison in Kansas after serving seven years of a 35-year sentence for leaking a vast trove of U.S.
state secrets to Wikileaks. She was arrested in May 2010 outside a U.S. army base on the outskirts of Baghdad. Manning was convicted for leaking hundreds of thousands of documents and videos downloaded from intelligence databases to WikiLeaks.
"After 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, The Guardian quoted Manning, as saying.
Former U.S. President Barack Obama granted Manning Clemency in his final days in office in January. In commuting to time served her 35-year sentence-the longest ever penalty dished out in the U.S. to an official leaker. Manning was convicted in 2013 of 20 charges, including six Espionage Act violations, theft and computer fraud, but was acquitted of the most serious charge of aiding the enemy.
The diplomatic cables and military files she passed to WikiLeaks includes secret documents on the treatment of detainees at Guantanamo Bay, civilian deaths in Afghanistan.
Source: ANI
