Chelsea Manning Says Arrest of Julian Assange Strengthens Her Claims As A Victim For Refusing To Testify

In the wake of the arrest of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, Chelsea Manning now claims that Assange’s arrest underscores how her current imprisonment is abusive.

Manning following her deployment in Iraq in 2009, leaked more than 750,000 U.S. documents — including battlefield reports and Guantanamo Bay detainee profiles.

Manning was convicted in 2013 for leaking documents, but was pardoned by President Barack Obama before he left office. She has been jailed since last month for refusing to answer the grand jury’s questions.

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Her reasoning for doing so was that she was morally against this tactic meant to force her to testify.

“I will not participate in a secret process that I morally object to, particularly one that has been used to entrap and persecute activists for protected political speech,” Manning said to the grand jury as she was detained.

Manning’s lawyer stated that since Assange was arrested due to publishing the material Manning provided, the evidence provided would be duplicative of evidence she could provide and that the grand jury should no longer require a testimony from Manning. They argue that Manning’s continued detention is intended to coerce her testimony.

Manning served seven years in jail from 2010 to 2017, and if Assange is convicted, she’ll face no new charges, She can legally be detained for another 17 months until the federal grand jury investigating Assange is dismissed.