Even before he became the American public enemy number one during the presidential elections, one of the things that WikiLeaks leader Julian Assange has feared the most is a possible extradition to the U.S., given the fact that he could gain several years in prison because of his leaking activities, having published several classified documents regarding the U.S. government and its inner activities in several events. However, Assange recently confessed that he would agree to be extradited, only if the president Barack Obama is willing to concede in one condition.
WikiLeaks Leader Wants The Freedom Of Chelsea Manning
Apparently, this would be the clemency and freedom of former U.S. soldier Chelsea Manning, jailed in 2013 for providing classified files of the U.S. military involvement both in Iraq and Afghanistan. Although many criticized this action against Jennings and considered extremely severe, the whistleblower soldier was sentenced to 35-years in prison and was dishonorably discharged from the Army.
Recently, the WikiLeaks leader has been framed by the accusations of collaborating with the Kremlin to sabotage the U.S. presidential election in order to get Donald Trump elected. In fact, the U.S. intelligence agencies provide a document in which is assured that Russian hackers aligned with Vladimir Putin´s regime were the group who stole the DNC and John Podesta´s emails and provided to the pro-transparency organization in order to publish it. However, Julian Assange has repeatedly denied the allegations and claimed that WikiLeaks´ sources weren´t from Russia.
A Condition That Is Unlikely To Be Granted
In addition to WikiLeaks leader, former NSA agent Edward Snowden also showed a similar position on Manning´s case, stating through a Twitter post that if president Obama wants to grant a single act of clemency before he leaves the presidency, this should be Manning´s freedom. However, even when there are rumors regarding this possibility, the White House recently said that the chief of state will not be granting the former soldier clemency.
