From the Ron Paul Institute Website:
Ron Paul and Dennis Kucinich sent a letter this week to President Barack Obama requesting that Obama “grant the application for clemency submitted by Chelsea Manning and commute her sentence to time served.” The result of Obama taking this action would be the whistleblower’s prompt release from prison.
Noting that Manning “has already spent more time in prison than anyone previously convicted for providing information to the media,” the two former US House Members who have both run for president in their respective parties’ primaries, declare their belief that Manning “received a sentence that was excessively punitive and intended to send a chilling message to future potential whistleblowers acting in the public interest.”
From the letter (PDF):
Dear Mr. President,
We write to urgently request that you grant the application for clemency submitted by Chelsea Manning and commute her sentence to time served. We each had the honor of serving the American people in the United States Congress for 16 years. We respect the government’s right to hold to account members of the military who breach military law, but believe that there are strong grounds for commuting Ms. Manning’s sentence. We strongly urge you to grant Ms. Manning’s application for clemency in recognition of her acting in the public interest and the treatment that she endured in early pre-trial detention.
Ms. Manning endured treatment in early pre-trial detention that was described by the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture as cruel, inhumane and degrading. Ms. Manning was confined within a segregation cage for two months in Iraq. She was then detained for nine months in a military brig at Quantico base. During this time, she was confined for 23 hours a day to a small cell with no personal possessions, and was reportedly shackled at the wrists and legs during visits. Mr. Kucinich’s initial inquiries into the conditions of Ms. Manning’s detention were met with conditions and delays that amounted to a subversion of his rights and obligations as a Member of Congress to conduct oversight. We jointly contend that her treatment during these eleven months violated her right to be protected from punishment without trial and cruel and unusual punishment as enshrined in the 5th and 8th Amendments of the U.S. Constitution.