Chelsea Manning’s "Continued Imprisonment Is Detrimental …

As soon as the indictment against Wikileaks founder Julian Assange was unsealed today by the Justice Department, Chelsea Manning's name was trending, too.

On Thursday, Assange was dramatically removed from the Ecuadorian embassy in London, where he has been living since 2012, by British authorities "on behalf of the United States, according to Londons Metropolitan Police, after Ecuador decided to rescind his asylum. A few hours later, an unsealed indictment filed by the Justice Department revealed that the U.S. sought to extradite Assange to face one count of conspiracy to commit computer intrusionthe conspiracy, court filings now publicly allege, was with Manning.

According to the indictment, Assange allegedly agreed to help Manning "crack a password that would provide access to Defense Department network used to store classified documents and communications," as described by Gizmodo, during the period in which she was disclosing classified government documents to Wikileaks as a U.S. Army intelligence analyst in 2010. The charge of conspiracy to commit computer intrusion carries only up to five years in prison; reports say Assange fears that he will be charged with additional (and much more serious) counts of espionage related to other disclosures when he reaches U.S. soil.

But it is Chelsea Manning who has already been in the custody of authorities for over a month. On March 8, Manning was held in contempt of court for refusing to answer questions in front of a federal grand jury in a sealed case, what today's indictment now seems to show is that of the government's against Assange. Prosecutors likely wanted to compel Manning to testify to their online conversations; when she refused to answer any of their questions, citing the lack of transparency in grand jury proceedings, which occur behind closed doors, she was detained, first in what her team said was solitary confinement (called "administrative segregation" by the Truesdale Detention Center) for 28 days, and now in general population.

In a statement they released earlier today, Manning's lawyers argue that the indictment "strengthens their claims of grand jury abuse." They say that the fact that it was obtained more than a year ago shows that prosecutors wanted Manning to testify to information she had already extensively detailed in her 2013 court martial proceedingsbefore she was sentenced to 35 years in prison, serving sevenand that her testimony was not needed to obtain an indictment of Assange. Therefore, because any evidence Manning could give "can no longer contribute to a grand jury investigation, Chelseas ongoing detention can no longer be seriously alleged to constitute an attempt to coerce her testimony," and is "purely punitive."

Janus Rose, a friend and representative of Manning's support committee Chelsea Resists in communication with her legal team, told Vogue that Manning's "continued imprisonment is detrimental to her health." Though Manning's move from "administrative congregation" to general population on April 4th has made it easier to communicate with her, the trauma of adapting back to civilian life after her sentence was commuted by former President Barack Obama in 2017 only to be detained again is taking its toll. The last time Rose spoke to Manning, when Manning returned to general population, she seemed "disoriented," though she is "tough as hell."

In isolation, where she was confined for 22 hours a day, Manning, who is working on a book, could only keep pen and paper in her cellshe could make phone calls, read letters, and complete daily hygiene tasks between the hours of 1am and 3am according to Rose. (Dana Lawhorne, the Alexandria, VA sheriff has refuted the characterization of Manning's condition as "solitary," saying, Our facility does not have solitary confinement and inmates housed in administrative segregation for safety and security reasons still have access to social visits, books, recreation, and break time outside their cells.") The letters from supporters in particular have been helpful, Rose says, "because the entire carceral system is designed to isolate and break the spirit."

Manning and her lawyers are in touch on today's developments regarding Assange's indictment, Rose confirmed; they have already announced that they will be filing a reply brief in their appeal asking that the contempt finding be vacated. "The only real way this will stop disrupting her life," Rose says, "is for her to be set free and left alone."

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Chelsea Manning's "Continued Imprisonment Is Detrimental ...