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IPFS News Link • Ron Paul Says...

Ron Paul and Dennis Kucinich Ask President Obama to Free Chelsea Manning

• http://www.ronpaulinstitute.org

Ron Paul and Dennis Kucinich sent a letter this week to President Barack Obama requesting that Obama "grant the application for clemency submitted by Chelsea Manning and commute her sentence to time served." The result of Obama taking this action would be the whistleblower's prompt release from prison.

Noting that Manning "has already spent more time in prison than anyone previously convicted for providing information to the media," the two former US House Members who have both run for president in their respective parties' primaries, declare their belief that Manning "received a sentence that was excessively punitive and intended to send a chilling message to future potential whistleblowers acting in the public interest."

In 2013, Manning, who had been an intelligence analyst in the United States Army, was convicted in a military court and sentenced to 35 years in prison. The case against Manning centered on Manning providing government information to WikiLeaks. Paul and Kucinich note in their letter that among the information provided to WikiLeaks was "previously unseen footage of journalists and other civilians being killed by U.S. helicopter attacks in a video known as 'Collateral Murder.'"


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