WikiLeaks soldier to be sentenced

Whistleblower soldier Bradley Manning is facing a substantial prison term despite being acquitted by a US military court of the most serious charge against him - aiding the enemy.

But 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.

The 25-year-old former intelligence analyst has been called both an important whistleblower and a traitor for giving more than 700,000 battlefield reports and diplomatic cables to anti-secrecy site WikiLeaks.

"We won the battle, now we need to go win the war," his defence lawyer David Coombs, after Tuesday's verdict, said of the sentencing. "Today is a good day, but Bradley is by no means out of the fire."

Manning was convicted on 20 of 22 charges, including a guilty plea the US government accepted in February. The charge of aiding the enemy had carried a potential life sentence.

A charge of aiding the enemy for someone who did not directly give an adversary information is extremely rare and advocates for freedom of the press had warned that convicting Manning would have broad implications for other leak cases and investigative journalism about national security issues.

Manning has said he leaked the material to expose the US military's "bloodlust" and disregard for human life, and what he considered American diplomatic deceit.

He said he chose information he believed would not the harm the US and wanted to start a debate on military and foreign policy. He did not give evidence at his trial at Fort Meade, Maryland.

His supporters included Pentagon Papers leaker Daniel Ellsberg, who in the early 1970s spilled a secret Defence Department history of US involvement in Vietnam that showed that the government repeatedly misled the public about the war.

Mr Ellsberg said Manning's acquittal on aiding the enemy was more significant than his convictions on the other counts. He said a conviction would mean that most people would not want to risk life imprisonment, or even execution - a permissible penalty under the law - for exposing government secrets.