Fears are growing for the safety and whereabouts of Chelsea Manning after the whistleblower failed to return three phone calls recently.
The Chelsea Manning Support Network reports that “Chelsea has missed three planned calls so we are worried about her and so far we don’t know why. The support network can be reached at staff@chelseamanning.org.”
Chelsea Manning is a United States Army soldier who was convicted by court-martial in July 2013 of violations of the Espionage Act and other offenses, after disclosing to WikiLeaks nearly three-quarters of a million classified or unclassified but sensitive military and diplomatic documents.
Manning was subsequently sentenced to 35 years imprisonment, with the possibility of parole in the eighth year, and to be dishonorably discharged from the Army.
Chelsea Manning attempted to appeal her harsh conviction earlier this year, with lawyers arguing the conviction was “grossly unfair and unprecedented”.
NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden has previously cited Manning’s harsh treatment and unfair trial as one of the key reasons for not returning to the United States.
Chelsea hasn’t Tweeted on Twitter recently, with her last tweet discussing the difficulties of “fighting an uphill battle“.
Some days I feel like we are fighting an uphill battle, from all sides, blindfolded. https://t.co/WwZFEvZWul
— Chelsea E. Manning (@xychelsea) October 5, 2016
Since then, concerned supporters have taken to Twitter to find out where Chelsea is.
Fourth day of no calls from Chelsea. We have no idea what is going on. We are very worried.
— Chelsea Manning (@SaveManning) October 8, 2016
https://twitter.com/xeni/status/784482027840024576
@xychelsea has not checked in w/ @savemanning for 3 days now. #whereischelsea? Chelsea Manning is missing https://t.co/7S6DfbOwt3 -Michael
— R.E.M. HQ (@remhq) October 7, 2016
Chelsea Manning @xychelsea has missed three planned calls. (So far, we do not know why.) So, we are worried about her.
— Chelsea Manning (@SaveManning) October 7, 2016