After The Sentence. What to do now; Take Action

Chelsea Manning’s sentence was handed down Weds 21st August 10.15am (local) 3.15pm (our time). The military judge sentenced Chelsea to 35 years – see this post for more information. [SEE here for press release after the sentence]

Scroll down for six ways to take action in support of Chelsea

WHAT NEXT ?

Before the formal legal appeals process begins (a possible three phases; the Army Court of Criminal Appeals -ACCA; the Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces -CAAF; the Supreme Court), the defence will make two other appeals – one to Obama for a presidential pardon and commuting of sentence (this was formally submitted by the defence on 3rd Sept though there is no time limit for this appeal), and one to the court martial ‘convening authority’ who, in this instance, is Maj Gen Jeffrey Buchanan (this is an automatic review in any case, but the defence will make a formal submission, probably sometime at the beginning of next year – Jan 2014ish) UPDATES – 14th April 2014:->The review by Gen Buchanan has resulted in him rejecting the appeals for clemency; he upheld both the record of the badly flawed Court Martial and the outrageous sentence: the case now passes to the appeals courts as above. The appeal to President Obama has so far resulted in the White House saying that clemency will not be considered until the appeals process has run its full course UPDATE Nov 2014 President Obama has now delegated review of Chelsea Manning’s clemency appeal to individuals within the Department of Defense. Details of new campaign to write to them below.

See below for how you can help now!

Sentenced: What to do now – six ways to take action

Now we know the sentence in this historic trial, here are six specific actions to complete, (besides continuing to protest Chelsea’s outrageous sentence, and raising awareness of Chelsea’s case in as many innovative ways you can think of!). There is a paragraph with more explanation/links etc for each of these six actions lower down the page. 

1. Write letters to Dept of Defense officials in support of the appeal to Obama for clemency
2. Join Amnesty Int’l (UK) Nov 2014 ‘Free Chelsea Manning’ initiative
3. Sign presidential pardon petition & other related actions
4. Contact the White House
5. Write to Chelsea in prison to let her know she is not forgotten
6. Donate to further legal fees, the campaign, and to family visits.

For more details on all these actions please see below.

1.WRITE LETTERS SUPPORTING CLEMENCY APPEAL TO OFFICIALS

President Obama has now assigned review of Chelsea’s clemency appeal to officials within the Dept of Defense. Please write to them (without dissing the army for obvious reasons!) expressing your support for Chelsea, and asking them to view this favourably. The original submission to Obama is here. Supporting letter here . Further supporting letter from Amnesty International here. For other pointers on what to write see here

WRITE TO:

• Secretary of the Army John McHugh
  101 Army Pentagon
  Washington, DC 20310-0101
• The Judge Advocate General
  2200 Army Pentagon
  Washington, DC 20310-2200
• Army Clemency and Parole Board
  251 18th St, Suite 385
  Arlington, VA 22202-3532
• Directorate of Inmate Administration
  Attn: Boards Branch
  U.S. Disciplinary Barracks
  1301 N. Warehouse Road
  Fort Leavenworth, KS 66027-2304

2.JOIN AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL (UK) ‘FREE CHELSEA’ INITIATIVE 

Send a letter to President Obama, and/or sign Amnesty’s ‘individuals at risk’ ‘write for rights’ petition asking Obama to release Chelsea. Amnesty International provide a template for your own letter, more information on Chelsea’s case, and a further link to the petition here.

3.GO TO ‘PARDON PRIVATE MANNING’ AND TAKE ACTION

Immediately after the sentence a website was published to promote the Chelsea Manning Support Network/Amnesty International campaign for a presidential pardon, to collect signatures for this appeal, and for supporters to upload their own ‘pardon’ photos. (NB. The formal request for presidential pardon has now gone in – 3rd Sept 2013, but although the official White House petition has now expired, Chelsea Manning Support Network are continuing to collect signatures here and the website now links to this petition for a presidential pardon). 

Watch the video, read the supporting statements from David Coombs (Chelsea’s Trial Lawyer) and Amnesty International (US) and take action by signing the petition. You can also upload a photo of yourself holding a ‘Pardon Chelsea’ sign.

4. CONTACT THE WHITE HOUSE

Information about contacting the White House with your comments by letter, email, online or telephone here and here

For those who wish to phone the White House ‘comments line’ to say how you feel (more here), there are various cheaper ways of making calls from here to the USA –here and here for instance, and as with all US calls, you will need to preface the no shown with ‘001’

5. WRITE TO CHELSEA

Let Chelsea know she is not forgotten by writing to her.

Envelopes should now be addressed to “Chelsea E Manning” as she won the right in court in April 2014 to change her name legally to Chelsea Elizabeth.

Chelsea E Manning

89289
1300 North Warehouse Road
Fort Leavenworth, Kansas 66027-2304
USA

 

For information about what she can and can’t receive please see David Coombs’ blog here (but please ignore the bit about writing ‘Bradley ‘on the envelope!)

6. DONATE

You can donate to Chelsea’s ongoing legal fees for her appeals and other actions she is pursuing; to the public awareness campaign; or to help her family in Wales with the expense of travelling to the US to visit her. See donate page for links to all of these.