Chelsea Manning: Wikileaks source celebrates 'first steps of freedom'

US soldier Chelsea Manning is celebrating her freedom 
after being released from military prison.

Manning took to Twitter after her release, photographing
 her "first steps of freedom" in civilian clothes.

In a brief statement, she said she was focused on the
 future, which "is far more important than the past".

She served seven years of a 35-year sentence for leaking
hundreds of thousands of diplomatic cables and military 
files to Wikileaks.

Most of her sentence was commuted by then-US
 President Barack Obama in January.

In a statement issued through the American Civil
 Liberties Union, which provided her with legal support, Manning said: "After another anxious four months of
waiting, the day has finally arrived.

I am looking forward to so much!"

She added: "Whatever is ahead of me is far more
 important than the past. I'm figuring things out right now - which is exciting, awkward, fun, and all new for me."

A US Army spokesperson confirmed that she left Fort
Leavenworth military prison in Kansas in the early morning.

The 29-year-old soldier was born Bradley Manning.

A day after she was sentenced to 35 years in prison in
2013, Manning said she had felt female since childhood 
and wanted to live as a woman called Chelsea.

"For the first time, I can see a future for myself as 
Chelsea," she said in a statement last week ahead of her release . "I can imagine surviving and living as the person 
who I am and can finally be in the outside world."

Speaking to the media, Manning's friend, the journalist
 Glenn Greenwald - who was involved in the publication of leaks from Edward Snowden - said she faced a difficult life outside prison.

"She's going to live in a country where the top officials
 have expressed extreme denunciations of her, condemnations of her, who regard her as a traitor," he said.

"But the reality is that if you look back at what it
 is that she achieved, she revealed unquestionable war
 crimes, her disclosures led to reforms around the world."

President Obama's decision to commute her sentence 
drew criticism from leading Republicans, including Senator John McCain, who called it a "a grave mistake".

'Back to Maryland'

Manning was convicted of 20 charges in connection 
with the leaks, including espionage. She was acquitted 
of the most serious charge, aiding the enemy.

She defended the leaking by saying she had wanted to
 spark a public debate in the US about the role of the
 military and US foreign policy, but later apologised for "hurting the US", saying she had mistakenly believed she could "change the world for the better".

In January she tweeted that she wanted to move to 
Maryland after being released, a state where she
 previously lived.

On Monday she tweeted: "Two more days until the 
freedom of civilian life ^_^ Now hunting for private #healthcare like millions of Americans =P".

Manning will remain on active army duty while her military court conviction remains under appeal. She will have healthcare benefits but will be unpaid, the army says.

An online campaign set up by her attorney has raised $150,000 (£115,725) to pay for her living expenses for the first year after her release.

If the appeal is denied, she could be dishonourably 
discharged from the army, US media say.

Manning was deployed in Iraq as an intelligence analyst
 when she leaked hundreds of thousands of files to Wikileaks.

Included in those files was video footage of an Apache helicopter killing 12 civilians in Baghdad in 2007, and many sensitive messages between US diplomats.

Manning twice attempted suicide last year at Fort Leavenworth, a male military prison.

She also went on a hunger strike last year, which she 
ended after the military agreed to provide her with gender transition treatment.