With mere weeks left under an Obama presidency, advocates have launched what they describe as a last ditch effort to save national security whistleblower Chelsea Manningbefore Donald Trump and his team of pro-torture, anti-LGBTQ war hawks ascend to power.
With a protest outside the White House on Saturday and a vigil outside Fort Leavenworth prison, where Manning is being held, on Sunday, advocates are amplifying their call for a presidential pardon for Manning.
Specifically, supporters are asking President Barack Obama to commute Manning’s sentence to time served, pointing to the fact that Manning « has already served more time in prison than any individual in United States history who disclosed information in the public interest, » though « [h]er disclosures harmed no one. »
Manning, who is serving a 35-year sentence, formally submitted a petition earlier this week asking for a reduced sentence.
« Chelsea Manning has been incarcerated since May 2010, including in unlawful, unusually harsh solitary confinement for 11 months before her trial, » reads a new White House petition.
The petition draws attention to the fact that, as Obama himself has recognized, that « prisoners who face solitary confinement are more likely to commit suicide. » And as a transgender woman in a men’s facility « facing ongoing mistreatment, » Manning is highly at risk.
In an appeal for clemency, American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) staff attorney Chase Strangio, a friend of Manning, published an open letter to Obama.
Noting Manning’s repeated suicide attempts and ongoing mistreatment, on top of the « pain of serving in the Army for years under both Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell and the ban on open transgender service, Strangio writes: « If you do not act to free her now, she may never be free to live the truth that she for so long was forced to repress. »
« This request comes at the peak of Chelsea’s escalating trauma and despair and on the eve of a new Administration’s rise to power, » the letter continues. « Her life is in your hands. »