U.S. Army Pvt. Chelsea Manning shared the first photo of herself following her release from prison to her new Instagram account on Thursday, telling her followers, “Okay, so here I am everyone!” 
 
 She added a winking face emoji, and the hashtag, “#HelloWorld.” 
 
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 Manning shared several pictures to her new Instagram account on Wednesday, showcasing her freedom after years behind bars. 
 
 An Army spokesperson confirmed Manning’s release from Fort Leavenworth military prison in Kansas on Wednesday. Manning, born Bradley Manning, served seven years of her 35-year sentence. 
 
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 Manning was released “in accordance to President Obama’s order,” the U.S. Army said in a statement, adding that no further information would be released “to ensure the privacy and security of Inmate Manning.” 
 
 Shortly before finishing his term as President, Obama shortened the sentence for Manning, who leaked classified information to WikiLeaks. 
 
 “I appreciate the wonderful support that I have received from so many people across the world over these past years,” Manning said in an exclusive statement to ABC News. “As I rebuild my life, I remind myself not to relive the past. The past will always affect me and I will keep that in mind while remembering that how it played out is only my starting point, not my final destination.” 
 
 Manning confirmed that she identified as a woman just one day after her 2013 sentencing, her lawyer said. She began her gender transition while in prison, although she had made appearances as a woman since as early as 2010. ||||| NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. Army soldier Chelsea Manning, who is serving 35 years in prison for passing classified files to WikiLeaks, was sentenced to 14 days in solitary confinement as punishment for attempting suicide and keeping a banned book in her cell, supporters said on Friday. 
 
 A disciplinary board at the Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, military prison where Manning is incarcerated informed her of the decision after a hearing on Thursday, according to a statement by Fight for the Future, a group supporting her. 
 
 No date was given for the sentence to start. Manning was quoted in the statement saying she could appeal the punishment and that seven days of it would be suspended provided she stayed out of trouble for six months. 
 
 “I am feeling hurt. I am feeling lonely. I am embarrassed by the decision. I don’t know how to explain it,” Manning said. 
 
 Army spokesman Wayne Hall said in an email: “It would be inappropriate for the Army to comment at this time.” 
 
 Manning, 28, is a transgender Army private who was born male and revealed after being convicted of espionage that she identifies as a woman. She tried to take her own life in July after what her lawyers said was the Army’s denial of appropriate healthcare. 
 
 This month, Manning went on a hunger strike, agreeing to end it only when the Army said she would be allowed to receive gender transition surgery. She began hormone therapy in 2015. 
 
 A lawyer for Manning, Chase Strangio of the American Civil Liberties Union, questioned the logic of “our systems of incarceration punishing people with the cruelty of solitary for attempting to end their life.” 
 
 Manning has been a focus of a worldwide debate on government secrecy since she provided more than 700,000 documents, videos, diplomatic cables and battlefield accounts to the anti-secrecy group WikiLeaks. 
 
 The case ranked as the biggest breach of classified materials in U.S. history. Manning, a former intelligence analyst in Iraq, in 2013 drew a 35-year prison sentence. 
 
 U.S. soldier Chelsea Manning, who was born male but identifies as a woman, imprisoned for handing over classified files to pro-transparency site WikiLeaks, is pictured dressed as a woman in this 2010 photograph obtained on August 14, 2013. Courtesy U.S. Army/Handout via REUTERS 
 
 Military parole rules could allow her to leave prison after serving seven years. 
 
 Among the files Manning leaked in 2010 was a gunsight video of a U.S. Apache helicopter firing on suspected Iraqi insurgents in 2007, an attack that killed a dozen people, including two Reuters news staffers. 
 
 Manning said the prohibited book in her prison cell was “Hacker, Hoaxer, Whistleblower, Spy” by Gabriella Coleman, about the computer hacker group Anonymous. ||||| Chelsea Manning, the US soldier serving 35 years in military prison for leaking state secrets to WikiLeaks, has joined the social media site Twitter. 
 
 
 
 The army private has secured the handle @xychelsea and will begin posting tweets from noon ET on Friday. Given the conditions of her custody – which do not extend to internet access – she will dictate comments by phone to supporters who will then post on her behalf. 
 
 The new Twitter feed had by 5.30pm ET on Thursday already attracted more than 1,000 followers, even before the soldier had uttered a word or followed any other accounts. Her page includes a drawing of her as she would like to be seen, with long hair – even though the military authorities have consistently refused to allow her to grow out her hair. 
 
 Manning was arrested at the Forward Operating Base Hammer outside Baghdad in Iraq where she was working as an intelligence analyst. After a prolonged trial, she was convicted of charges arising from having passed a massive stash of US state secrets to the open-information organization WikiLeaks. 
 
 After she was convicted, Manning revealed that she wanted to transition from her male birth gender to begin living as a woman. After months of legal struggle, the US military agreed to approve her gender-reassignment hormone therapy – the first such treatment ever approved for an active member of the armed forces. 
 
 Since being incarcerated, Manning has developed her voice as a perceptive and questioning observer of international affairs as a columnist for the Guardian. She has written on issues ranging from President Obama’s “war on whistleblowers” to the CIA’s torture techniques and transgender politics. 
 
 The Chelsea Manning support team are encouraging people to follow the soldier on Twitter through a #FF campaign. They promise that the tweets posted on her feed will be “her own candid thoughts and comments”.
– US Army Pvt. Chelsea Manning was released Wednesday from military prison after serving seven years of a 35-year-sentence for sharing classified documents with WikiLeaks. On Thursday, she shared the first photo of herself since she was locked up, People reports. "Okay, so here I am everyone!!" Manning captioned the photo on Instagram. According to NBC News, it's the only public photo of Manning—who was born Bradley Manning—presenting as a woman besides a low-quality selfie taken immediately before she started her prison term. The ACLU says the photo was taken by a filmmaker working on a documentary about Manning.