PRESIDENT Barack Obama has commuted the prison sentence of Chelsea Manning, the United States Army soldier who was born in Pembrokeshire and attended Tasker Milward School in Haverfordwest.
Chelsea, 29, is currently serving a 35 year sentence after being convicted of leaking classified documents to the Wikileaks website and has been the focus of many campaigns as she serves the longest punishment ever imposed in the United States for a leak conviction.
Chelsea is transgender and previously went by the name of Bradley.
She is now due to be released on May 17, six years into her sentence.
Her family have released a statement which says: “We are all overjoyed that Chelsea will soon be free.
“Chelsea exposed wrongdoing and was punished for being a whistleblower.
“We regret that it has taken so long for President Obama to commute the sentence and are outraged that Chelsea has been forced to endure such abusive treatment in prison.
“We agree with the UN Special Rapporteur Juan Mendez that some of this abuse amounted to torture.
“We sincerely hope that Chelsea will now be able to get on with the rest of her life and that she finds happiness and fulfilment in whatever she chooses to do.
“There will always be a welcome for her here in Wales.
“We will not be giving any interviews to the media and ask to be left in peace and for our privacy to be respected.”
A White House spokesperson said: “Chelsea Manning is somebody who went through the military criminal justice process, was exposed to due process, was found guilty, was sentenced for her crimes, and she acknowledged wrongdoing,”
On Friday (Jan 13) Wikileaks took to Twitter, writing: “If Obama grants Manning clemency Assange will agree to US extradition despite clear unconstitutionality of DoJ (US Department of Justice) case.”
Julian Assange has been sheltering in the Ecuadorian embassy in London since June 2012 to avoid extradition to Sweden to face allegations of sexual assault.
Assange has previously said he believes he would then be extradited to the US where further charges could be filed against him for his publication of classified documents.
Neither Wikileaks nor Mr Assange has yet commented on the news of Manning’s early release.
