Whistleblowers

Just days before leaving the White House after his two-term presidency, Barack Obama announced he was commuting the sentence of US Army private Chelsea Manning, responsible for leaking an immense trove of secret US military and diplomatic files for publication in Wikileaks.  The founder of Wikileaks, Julian Assange, still trapped in the Ecuadoran embassy in London, offered to face US justice if Manning were released.  Edward Snowden, whose leaks of NSA files exposed the massive surveillance systems operating from the US and around the world, also called for clemency for Manning.  Snowden remains a fugitive in Russia where his grant to asylum was extended.