It seems that before President Obama leaves office for good, he still has a few important decisions to make. One of those decisions is whether or not to let Chelsea Manning free after she’s been behind bars for 6 years.
Manning was sentenced to 35 years of prison after leaking classified military documents to WikiLeaks in 2010. In 2016, she made a plea to President Obama. 100,000 people signed an official petition to let Chelsea free.
Many believe that Manning deserves freedom and justice for fighter for transparency in the government, something that has become increasingly necessary for the interest of the American people. In the words of one of her attorneys Chase Strangio:
“I am relieved to hear that President Obama is considering taking action. The system itself will not correct the egregious error of her 35-year sentence in time to save her life. As a trans woman in a men’s prison, as a survivor of abuse, homelessness, and solitary confinement, Chelsea deserves a chance to be truly free to live her life. Her chance is now, and Obama is her only hope.”
Manning has been in jail far longer than any other whistleblower, and has been subject to very cruel punishment during her sentence, not to mention that she was a transgendered woman placed in a men’s prison.
Reports show that she was placed in solitary confinement for 23 hours a day and attempted to commit suicide twice.
To this day it is unclear whether she will be released, and the ball is only in Obama’s court for the next week before he leaves the White House for good.
Many people, government officials and whistleblower advocates say that it is highly unlikely that Obama will grant Manning her request and set her free, and it also seems President-elect Trump will not be any more sympathetic to her case.
Still, some news sources claim that Obama’s decision could be coming very soon in favor of Manning. So the question that arises is: can he push this through before it’s too late ?
