Judge Orders Manning Jailed, Imposes Daily $500 Fine After 30 Days Behind
Bars
Former U.S. Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning addresses reporters
outside the Albert Bryan U.S federal courthouse with attorney Moira
Meltzer-Cohen on May 16, 2019, in Alexandria, Virginia.
Former U.S. Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning addresses reporters
outside the Albert V. Bryan federal courthouse with attorney Moira
Meltzer-Cohen on May 16, 2019, in Alexandria, Virginia.
Win McNamee / Getty Images
By Jake Johnson, Common DreamsPublished May 17, 2019
In a move press freedom advocates and progressive critics decried as an
"outrageous" and "unprecedented" escalation of a prolonged government
harassment campaign, a federal judge on Thursday ordered U.S. Army
whistleblower Chelsea Manning back to jail for refusing to testify before a
secretive grand jury and imposed a $500 fine for every day she is in custody
after 30 days.
If Manning refuses to comply with the grand jury subpoena after 60 days, the
fine will increase to $1,000 per day.
During a court hearing on Thursday, Manning told Judge Anthony Trenga that
she has no intention of giving in to government pressure.
"I would rather starve to death than to change my opinion in this regard,"
saidManning. "And when I say that, I mean that quite literally."
Manning's imprisonment Thursday came exactly one week after she was released
following a 62-day stint in jail- including a month in solitary confinement
- for refusing to testify before a grand jury that, as the Guardianreported,
"is presumed to relate to the criminal prosecution" of WikiLeaks founder and
publisher Julian Assange, who is currently fightingthe Trump
administration's attempt to extradite him to the United States.
"This is unprecedented," read a tweetfrom Manning's official Twitter
account.
Moira Meltzer-Cohen, an attorney for Manning, said in a statementThursday
that while she is "disappointed" with the judge's decision, she expects "it
will be exactly as coercive as the previous sanction - which is to say not
at all."
"In 2010 Chelsea made a principled decision to let the world see the true
nature modern asymmetric warfare," said Meltzer-Cohen. "It is telling that
the United States has always been more concerned with the disclosure of
those documents than with the damning substance of the disclosures."
"The American government relies on the informed consent of the governed, and
the free press is the vigorous mechanism to keep us informed. It is a point
of pride for this administration to be publicly hostile to the press," she
added. "It is up to the press to stand up for themselves, to stand up for
the practice of journalism, and to stand up for Chelsea in the same manner
she has consistently stood up for the press
