Whistleblower Chelsea Manning has been held in detention in Alexandria,
VA for the last two months on “contempt” charges for refusing to testify
against WikiLeaks. On Monday, her legal team issued a new legal argument seeking release.
The argument is seen in an 8-page legal filing,
which at its core is that she is never going to testify against
WikiLeaks, and that subsequently there is no legal basis for keeping her
and demanding she do so anymore.
This appears to be accurate, based on federal law. The law only requires
open-ended contempt detentions, like the one Manning is in, if there is
reason to believe that there is a chance the detention will eventually
coerce the detainee into testifying. Thus, if Manning will never
testify, there is no legal basis to keep her.
This is going to be a difficult legal battle, despite what the law says,
because judges depend on these detentions to coerce people into
testifying. If the letter of the law also becomes legal precedent, that
people who won’t testify can be released, it will make the illegal
threat of open-ended detentions that much weaker.
In addition to the argument for release, the legal filing details, in
Manning’s own words, her worsening health, her lack of medical access,
and suffering symptoms of prolonged isolation described by the UN
Special Rapporteur on Torture.
Chelsea Manning Will Never Testify, Argues Courts Should Release Her
Federal law only allows continued detention if there's a chance detention will force her to testify
Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.
Join the Discussion!
We welcome thoughtful and respectful comments. Hateful language, illegal content, or attacks against Antiwar.com will be removed.
For more details, please see our Comment Policy.
