The imprisoned US soldier Chelsea Manning has ended a hunger strike after the army said she would be allowed to receive gender transition surgery, the American Civil Liberties Union has announced. Manning, 28, who is serving a 35-year prison term for passing classified files to WikiLeaks, began the hunger strike on Friday. Manning’s treatment would begin with the surgery that was recommended by her psychologist in April, said the ACLU, which represented Manning, who is held in Kansas. Manning criticised the government in a statement for taking “so long” but said: “I am unendingly relieved that the military is finally doing the right thing. No transgender inmate had ever before received such surgical treatment in prison, the ACLU said.

Source: The Guardian September 14, 2016 01:58 UTC