Manning to be sentenced

US soldier Bradley Manning is due to be sentenced later today after he was convicted of espionage charges.

Manning faces a substantial prison term, despite being acquitted by a US military court of the most serious charge against him - aiding the enemy.

However, the convictions on espionage, theft and other charges in the biggest leak of classified information in American history could put Manning behind bars for up to 136 years.

Read: Manning 'did not aid the enemy'

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has described Bradley Manning as "the quintessential whistleblower" after the US soldier was convicted of espionage charges.

He accused President Barack Obama of "national security extremism" after an American military judge convicted Bradley Manning over the biggest leak of classified documents in US history.

Praising Manning as "the most important journalistic source that the world has ever seen", Mr Assange said he did not receive a fair trial and called for the verdict to be overturned.

"It can never be that conveying true information to the public is espionage,"Assange said from inside the Ecuadorean Embassy in London, his home for more than a year.

US soldier Bradley Manning faces life behind bars after a military court found him guilty of multiple counts of violating the espionage act in the WikiLeaks case.

ITV News diplomatic correspondent John Ray has this report from the court martial at Fort Meade, Maryland:

Manning was cleared of the most serious charge of "aiding the enemy", but military judge Colonel Denise Lind judge found him guilty of the biggest leak of classified information in US history.

The prosecution described him as a traitor who had "evil intent".

But WikiLeaks founder, Julian Assange called Manning 'a hero' and said his conviction set a "dangerous precedent", adding that Manning's disclosures had helped spark the Arab Spring.

The 25-year-old pleaded guilty to 11 of the charges after Colonel Lind ruled that he could not argue he was acting in the public interest when he released information to WikiLeaks.

Colonel Lind had denied a request by Manning's attorneys to throw out the "aiding the enemy" charge, the most serious of the 21 counts against him.Bradley Manning opted to have his case heard by a judge, rather than a panel of military jurors.

WikiLeaks published the vast majority of the hundreds of thousands of documents leaked online, in many cases without omitting personal or logistically sensitive information.

Speaking inside the Ecuadorian embassy in London, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange said the conviction of soldier Bradley Manning on espionage charges set a "dangerous precedent".

Pte Manning, who has admitted leaking confidential information to WikiLeaks, was convicted of 19 charges.

Mr Assange said the only victim in the case had been the US government's "wounded pride", adding that Manning's disclosures had helped spark the Arab Spring.

Manning's sentencing will begin tomorrow but Mr Assange said there were two appeals within the US justice system as well as the Supreme Court.

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange tonight attacked the conviction of US soldier Bradley Manning on espionage charges, calling him a "hero."

The anti-secrecy organisation Wikileaks says a US military court's conviction of Pte Bradley Manning for espionage, theft and computer fraud charges shows "dangerous national security extremism" from the Obama administration.

Pte Manning, who is expected to be sentenced tomorrow by a US military court on Wednesday, faces up to 154 years in prison for the charges against him.

The court has convicted him of five espionage counts, five charges of theft, a computer fraud charge and other military infractions.

A US military court has found US soldier Bradley Manning guilty of multiple counts of violating the espionage act in the Wikileaks case.

However, the court has acquitted him of the most serious charge of "aiding and abetting the enemy".

US soldier Bradley Manning has been acquitted of "aiding and abetting the enemy" for giving secrets to Wikileaks.

The 25-year-old has already pleaded guilty to 11 of the charges after militarty judge Colonel Denise Lind ruled that he could not argue he was acting in the public interest when he released information to WikiLeaks.

Colonel Lind had denied a request by Manning's attorneys to throw out the "aiding the enemy" charge, the most serious of the 21 counts against him.

Colonel Lind said that Manning's training as a low-level intelligence analyst would have taught him that publicly releasing secret information would pose a risk to U.S. national security.

Bradley Manning opted to have his case heard by a judge, rather than a panel of military jurors.

US soldier Bradley Manning has arrived at a courthouse in Fort Meade, Maryland to learn of his fate. Military judge Colonel Denise Lind will rule on charges that he aided the enemy by releasing 700, 000 classified documents to the website WikiLeaks.

The 25-year-old is facing the possibility of life in prison without parole.