Suicidal Wikileaks informer Chelsea Manning’s supporters ‘extremely worried’ after nearly a week goes by without anyone hearing from her
FEARS are growing for Chelsea Manning, the US soldier jailed for passing data to WikiLeaks, after supporters said nobody has heard from her for nearly a week.
Manning – who is serving at 35 year sentence at Fort Leavenworth in Kansas – recently admitted trying to commit suicide in prison.
And the whistleblower’s legal team have now said they are worried about her after she missed several scheduled phone calls.
Her attorney, Chase Strangio of the American Civil Liberties Union, said Sunday that Manning had been out of contact for five days with no information from prison authorities.
He said in a tweet: “[Chelsea] has not been able to check-in with family, friends and supporters for 5 days. Legal team monitoring and will update when we can”
But the following day there had still been no word, with a supporters’ group saying they were “extremely worried” about her.
Save Manning wrote from its official Twitter account last night: “SIXTH day of no calls from Chelsea. We *still* have *no idea* what is going on.
“We continue to be very worried. FreeChelsea.com”
Manning – who was born Bradley in Oklahoma City in 1987, to a Welsh mother and an American father – first made contact with WikiLeaks in January 2010.
The whistleblower leaked over 700,000 classified documents related to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan – eventually confiding in Adrian Lamo, an online acquaintance.
Lamo informed United States Army Counterintelligence, leading to Manning being charged with 22 offences.
She pleaded guilty to 10 charges, and was convicted of 21.
Crucially, she was acquitted of aiding the enemy – a charge which can result in the death penalty.
The day after sentencing, Manning said in a statement she wanted to be known as Chelsea, and wanted to begin transitioning into a woman.
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