WikiLeaks founder offers surrender if Chelsea Manning is released

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange would agree to serve prison time in the United States in exchange for President Barack Obama granting clemency to Chelsea Manning, the group's Twitter account said Thursday.

Manning is currently serving a 35-year sentence at the U.S. Disciplinary Barracks in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. Manning was convicted in 2013 of stealing and disseminating 750,000 pages of documents and videos to WikiLeaks in what has been described as the largest leak of classified material in US history. Manning was found guilty of 20 of the 22 charges against her, including violations of the US Espionage Act.

Assange has been granted political asylum at the Ecuadorian embassy in London as he fights extradition to Sweden, where he faces sexual assault allegations. Assange, an Australian national, has been trapped inside the embassy of Ecuador since August 2012.

He has said he fears extradition to Sweden could lead to another extradition to the U.S., where he could face the death penalty if he is charged and convicted of publishing government secrets through WikiLeaks.

A spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney's Office of the Eastern District of Virginia, where he would be prosecuted, had no comment.