Obama commutes whistleblower Chelsea Manning’s sentence
US President Barack Obama has slashed Chelsea Manning's sentence for leaking documents to WikiLeaks in 2010 from 35 years to just seven
Chelsea Manning provided more than 700,000 documents, videos, diplomatic cables and battlefield accounts to WikiLeaks
Outgoing US President Barack Obama shortened the prison sentence of Chelsea Manning, the former US military intelligence analyst who was responsible for a 2010 leak of classified materials to anti-secrecy group WikiLeaks.
Manning provided more than 700,000 documents, videos, diplomatic cables and battlefield accounts to WikiLeaks - one of the biggest such breaches in US history. The move landed her a 35-year prison sentence in 2013.
Obama, in one of his final acts before leaving office, reduced her sentence to seven years on Tuesday, angering some Republicans.
The 29-year-old transgender US Army private, born Bradley Manning, will now be freed on 17 May instead of her scheduled 2045 release.
"This is just outrageous," House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan said in a statement. Ryan, a Republican, said the decision was a "dangerous precedent" for those who leak materials about national security.
"Chelsea Manning's treachery put American lives at risk and exposed some of our nation's most sensitive secrets," Ryan said.
Republican Senator Tom Cotton said the leak endangered troops, intelligence officers, diplomats and allies.
"We ought not treat a traitor like a martyr," Cotton said.
A White House official said there was no connection between Manning's commutation and renewed US government concern about WikiLeaks' actions during last year's presidential election, or a promise by founder Julian Assange to accept extradition if Manning was freed.
