Politics and Society | Iceland Monitor | Thu 18 May 2017 | 12.00 GMT

Iceland's Pirate Party rejoices at news of Manning's release

U.S. Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning delivered hundreds of thousands of classified documents that she found troubling to WikiLeaks. Photo/ AFP

"Fantastic news today that Chelsea Manning is a free woman and a big reason to celebrate," says captain of the Icelandic Pirate Party Birgitta Jónsdóttir about yesterday's release of Chelsea Manning who leaked thousands of documents from the US Army to Wikileaks in 2010.

Former soldier Manning was released from prison yesterday after serving a seven year sentence.

"The whole world stands in gratitude to Manning, also Icelanders. Manning leaked important documents regarding Icesave as she was aghast at how powerful nations took advantage of their size to oppress a tiny nation," said Jónsdóttir.

The Icelandic Pirate Party organised a gathering last night to celebrate Manning's release and to "send a message that we show support for informers when they bring important information to the rest of the world. The Pirate Party would like to nominate Chelsea Manning and Edward Snowden for the Nobel Peace Prize.