Manning to Seek Pardon from Obama

A file photo dated 30 July 2013 showing US Army Private Bradley Manning (C) leaving the courtroom at Fort Meade, Maryland, USA. Private Bradley Manning was sentenced by a US military judge on 21 August 2013 to 35 years in jail in the Wikileaks case

Bradley Manning will send a personal plea to Barack Obama next week for a presidential pardon after he was sentenced on Wednesday to 35 years in prison.

Manning's lawyer, David Coombs, has described his client as a whistleblower who tried to present necessary information to the American people — who Coombs called the ultimate oversight in the United States democracy.

Coombs said Manning provided valuable insight into a secret realm most American citizens would otherwise never see.

Amnesty International also called on President Obama to commute Manning's sentence to time served, international media inform.

A US military judge sentenced Manning to 35 years in prison Wednesday for leaking classified documents to the anti-secrecy group WikiLeaks.

Manning had already admitted passing hundreds of thousands of battlefield reports and diplomatic cables to Wikileaks while stationed in Iraq in 2010, saying in a pre-trial hearing he had leaked the secret files in order to spark a public debate about US foreign policy and the military.

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