Bradley Manning who was yesterday sentenced to military prison for leaking classified documents to Wikileaks says he plans to live out his life as a woman

American media is reporting that the army private issued a statement saying 'I am Chelsea Manning. I am female. Given the way that I feel, and have felt since childhood, I want to begin hormone therapy as soon as possible.'

The 25-year-old was sentenced to 35 years in prison having been found guilty of 20 charges including espionage.

"I also request that, starting today, you refer to me by my new name and use the feminine pronoun (except in official mail to the confinement facility)" he continued in the statement. "I look forward to receiving letters from supporters and having the opportunity to write back".

He then signed the letter as 'Chelsea E. Manning'.

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The sentencing capped a 12-week trial and a much longer legal battle over his intentions when he reached out to WikiLeaks.

Prosecutors had asked for at least a 60-year sentence and portrayed the 25-year-old as "the determined insider", an anarchist hacker and traitor.

They said Manning started working within weeks of his 2009 deployment to Iraq to provide WikiLeaks and its founder Julian Assange with exactly what they wanted.

Manning and his defence team maintained he was an idealistic soldier who wanted to expose brutal truths about America's military and diplomatic corps. WikiLeaks has branded the outcome a "significant strategic victory".

Meanwhile Amnesty International has called on US President Barack Obama to commute the sentence to time already served and to instead investigate the abuses he exposed.