A federal judge in Alexandria, Virginia, has ordered Chelsea Manning, the former Army intelligence analyst and whistleblower who served seven years in prison for passing information to WikiLeaks, to be held in jail for refusing to answer questions before a grand jury.*
Manning will be held until she testifies or until the grand jury concludes its work, Judge Claude M. Hilton ruled in the closed contempt hearing on Friday. The nature of the investigation is not publicly known, but Manning said she was asked to testify about WikiLeaks.
Manning had said earlier in the day that she was prepared to go to jail. She told reporters that she had already revealed everything she knew during her court martial, when she was tried and sentenced to 35 years in prison after sharing classified documents with WikiLeaks in 2010. President Barack Obama commuted her sentence after seven years.
“All of the substantive questions pertained to my disclosures of information to the public in 2010—answers I provided in extensive testimony, during my court-martial in 2013,” Manning said in a statement.
Manning also said she objected to the process. “These secret proceedings tend to favor the government,” she said outside the courtroom, according to the Washington Post. “I’m always willing to explain things publicly.”
Manning’s lawyers asked that she be confined at home rather than sent to prison because of medical complications, but the judge said the jail officials have assured the government they can meet Manning’s medical needs.
Correction, March 9, 2019: This post originally misstated that Manning was an officer. She was an intelligence analyst.
