Released only last week after 62 days in detention for “contempt” from a
previous grand jury for refusing to testify about WikiLeaks,
whistleblower Chelsea Manning has been jailed by a new grand jury for the exact same reason.
Manning has refused to testify against WikiLeaks, and her lawyers argued
that the law doesn’t allow detention to continue if she’s not going to
be coerced into testifying. The court never ruled on this, but released
her when the first grand jury expired, then re-jailed her under the
second grand jury.
US District Judge Anthony Trenga seems to be hoping to bankrupt Manning
as well in this new case, saying he will fine her $500 a day for every
day she is held over 30, and $1,000 a day for every day held after 60.
Manning was already imprisoned by the US military for her whistleblowing
activities, but her sentence was commuted by President Obama in 2017.
The grand juries are aimed primarily at digging up things to charge
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange with. Manning confirmed earlier in the
day she was aware she might be facing jail again, but insisted it would
not change her stand.
US Again Jails Chelsea Manning for Refusing to Testify on WikiLeaks
Manning had been released last week by previous grand jury
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.
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