Chelsea Manning joins Twitter

Former soldier Chelsea Manning has begun tweeting from the prison in Kansas where she is serving a 35 year sentence for releasing large amounts of classified U.S. military documents to Wikileaks.

Under the handle @xychelsea, Manning began tweeting less than 24 hours ago and already has 30,000 followers. She has indicated that she is tweeting through a third party, since she is not believed to be permitted Internet access in prison. The tone of her tweets indicate her circumstances haven’t dampened her sense of humour.

 

A controversial figure, viewed as a revolutionary hero by some, and a national traitor by others, Manning thanked journalists Glenn Greenwald and Alexa O’Brien for supporting her, as well as Amnesty International, in some of her first tweets.

Manning was approved for hormone therapy in February, to express her female gender.