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Chelsea Manning sent to jail for refusing to testify in WikiLeaks case
Former Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning will be held in jail until she testifies before a grand jury or that grand jury is no longer operating, a federal judge in Alexandria ruled Friday.
Most of the hearing at which prosecutors argued for Manning to be held in contempt was sealed, but the court was open to the public for Judge Claude M. Hilton's ruling. "I've found you in contempt," Hilton said. He ordered her to custody immediately, "either until you purge yourself or the end of the life of the grand jury."
Manning was called to testify in an investigation into WikiLeaks, the anti-secrecy website she shared classified documents with back in 2010. Manning served seven years of a 35 year prison sentence for her leak before receiving a commutation from President Barack Obama.
Outside court before the hearing, Manning said she was prepared to go to jail. "These secret proceedings tend to favor the government," she said. "I'm always willing to explain things publicly."
Older article. Also at BBC, The Guardian, and Associated Press.
(Score: 5, Interesting) by DrkShadow on Saturday March 09 2019, @04:20AM
There is an amendment, I believe it's the first one, that includes a right to freedom of speech (or not). I know, I know, it's worth nothing more than toilet paper now'adays, but anyway.
This toilet paper says explicitly that congress shall make no law infringing upon one's right to free speech. The judicial branch, being the judicial branch, cannot make law, and so isn't relevant here.
Consider that there _can_be_no_ law requiring speech of someone -- testimony. Congress isn't permitted to make such a law and the judicial branch can't make such law.
That slippery slope that was mentioned -- it's extralegal detainment, as evidenced here.