Xinhua/SIPA USA/PA Images. All rights reserved.In one of his final acts as president, Barack Obama appeared to show some mercy by commuting Chelsea Manning’s sentence. The US army private turned whistleblower was responsible for leaking classified military and diplomatic material – more than 700,000 documents and videos – to WikiLeaks, who in turn worked with news organisations to coordinate widespread publication throughout 2010. But the fact remains that Obama has persecuted more whistleblowers under the Espionage Act of 1917 compared with all previous administrations.
Whilst Manning’s release in 2017 is of course better than 2045, as her original sentence of 35 years demanded, she still served longer than most other whistleblowers. Indeed the average sentence for leaking classified material in the US is typically one to three years. In contrast, Manning spent more than three years behind bars just awaiting the start of her military trial, and then another four years after her conviction.
