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In one of his last moves in office, President Obama has commuted the 35-year prison sentence of Chelsea Manning, the Army private who leaked a massive trove of military secrets to WikiLeaks.
The former intelligence analyst's prison sentence has been shortened to expire on May 17, 2017, according to a statement from the White House.
Her lawyers at the ACLU expressed relief after the decision, saying that Manning has already served more time behind bars than any other whistleblower in U.S. history, and under difficult conditions.
Also at the BBC and the New York Times.
Previously: Chelsea Manning Reportedly on Obama's Short List for Commutation; Assange Offers Himself in Trade
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(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 18 2017, @02:23PM
> I didn't expect Obama to do this.
> There's some hidden agenda here, and one wonders just what it is...
You receive new information that contradicts your understanding of the world.
But instead of re-evaluating your understanding, you decide that there must be a secret explanation for why you are not wrong.
That's textbook conspiracy fantasy.
Let me guess, you are also a climate change denier, an anti-vaxxer, oppose water fluoridation, worry about chem-trails, think 911 was an inside job and have your doubts about the moon landings too?
(Score: 2) by bradley13 on Wednesday January 18 2017, @04:33PM
You misunderstand my question. The clemency is not what I fail to understand. What I do not understand - and where I suspect a hidden agenda - is Obama making the commutation take effect four months later. Why would he do that? If he's going to be merciful, why not commute the sentence effective immediately?
Everyone is somebody else's weirdo.
(Score: 2, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 18 2017, @04:58PM
A senior administration official said the 120-day delay was part of a standard transition period for commutations to time served, and was designed to allow for such steps as finding a place for Ms. Manning to live after her release.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/17/us/politics/obama-commutes-bulk-of-chelsea-mannings-sentence.html [nytimes.com]
It literally took me 30 seconds to figure it out with google.
What's your excuse for spending more time than that dreaming up a conspiracy?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 19 2017, @01:19AM
Consider, chastisement.
Obama has said, "Hey. Hey you. We're not going to keep you in jail _forever_ like we said we would. But! Don't get ahead of yourself. You're not going home today. You're going to sit there for four more months and think about exactly what you did." It feels like a way to shame him and make him consider a crime, rather than "Yeah yeah we've had our fun with you and you were right the whole time, go home."
"(Oh, and we're not paying for your damn gender surgery.)"