“Ms. Manning was incarcerated at Quantico for just under one year under conditions the U.N. Special Rapporteur on Torture called ‘cruel, inhuman and degrading.’ Now, she has been ordered to spend another seven days in solitary confinement as a punishment for her desperate act of attempting suicide. There is no doubt that these six years have been devastating to a person who sought nothing more than to inform the American public.
She sought no personal gain from her disclosures. Ms. Manning has already served six years. This is longer than any other whistleblower in United States history. Because of that, I believe it is time for her to be released from custody.”–Daniel Ellsberg
October 13, 2016
President Barack Obama
Attn: Neil Eggleston, Senior White House Counsel
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500
Re: Clemency Petition for Chelsea Manning
Dear President Obama,
I write to request that you grant clemency to Chelsea Manning, who has been in military confinement since May 2010 and is currently serving a 35 year sentence at the U.S. Disciplinary Barracks at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. I am not asking for a pardon, just that she be released from prison now, after already serving six years.
Although I have not personally met Ms. Manning, I am well aware of her life, her work and the events that led to her incarceration. I know that Ms. Manning pled guilty to several crimes, but then was tried and convicted of numerous additional crimes related to the exposing of classified evidence to the press and therefore the public. I also know that Ms. Manning received a long sentence of thirty-five years.
It is my firm belief that Ms. Manning disclosed this material for the purpose of informing the American people of serious human rights abuses, including the killing of innocent people by United States troops in Iraq. She hoped to begin a dialogue in our democratic society about the continuation of a war that she believed was wrong and was contributing to illegal acts.
Ms. Manning was also going through a particularly difficult time in her life, dealing with issues of her sexuality, which made this a particularly vulnerable time for her. To make matters worse for her, Ms. Manning was incarcerated at Quantico for just under one year under conditions the U.N. Special Rapporteur on Torture called “cruel, inhuman and degrading.” Now, she has been ordered to spend another seven days in solitary confinement as a punishment for her desperate act of attempting suicide. There is no doubt that these six years have been devastating to a person who sought nothing more than to inform the American public. She sought no personal gain from her disclosures.
Ms. Manning has already served six years. This is longer than any other whistleblower in United States history. Because of that, I believe it is time for her to be released from custody.
Respectfully,
Daniel Ellsberg