It’s Chelsea Manning’s Birthday, Demand Her Freedom Now!

Today is Chelsea Manning’s birthday. She is spending it yet again behind bars. We need you to demand her freedom now.

Chelsea blew the whistle on US government human rights abuses. She exposed earth-shattering information, shining a spotlight on the horrors of war. And the US government came after her with a vengeance. She was subjected to pretrial detention conditions condemned by the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture and and Other Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment or Punishment. Chelsea received an unprecedentedly long sentence for giving information to the media. Thankfully, after the mobilization of support from people like you, her sentence was commuted.  

Now, Chelsea has been back in jail for nine months, and faces nine more. Not because she has committed any crime, but because of her conscientious objection to participating in a secretive, unjust grand jury investigation into the publication of her 2010 disclosures. 

We’ve teamed up with our allies at Fight for the Future to demand Chelsea’s freedom. Please sign the petition to Judge Trenga demanding Chelsea Manning’s immediate release.

Chelsea’s refusal to participate in this process is part of a long history of resistance to grand juries, which are routinely used to harass and entrap activists, journalists, and truth tellers. In a shocking move, the judge in the case has imposed massive fines on Chelsea, charging her $1,000 per day while the US government holds her in confinement, ostensibly to convince her to agree to their demand that she give testimony to the grand jury 

Chelsea has already served half of the 18 month maximum that the government can hold her. She’s about to spend another birthday in a jail cell. The US government has no legal justification for continuing to imprison her. This must stop. Sign the petition now.