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.<\/p>\n
\"It is a point of pride for this administration to be publicly hostile to the press. 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.\" Moira Meltzer-Cohen, attorney for Chelsea Manning<\/p>\n
If Manning refuses to comply with the grand jury subpoena after 60 days, the fine will increase to $1,000 per day.<\/p>\n
During a court hearing on Thursday, Manning told Judge Anthony Trenga that she has no intention of giving in to government pressure.<\/p>\n
\"I would rather starve to death than to change my opinion in this regard,\" said Manning. \"And when I say that, I mean that quite literally.\"<\/p>\n
Manning's imprisonment Thursday came exactly one week after she was released following a 62-day stint in jailincluding a month in solitary confinementfor refusing to testify before a grand jury that, as the Guardian reported, \"is presumed to relate to the criminal prosecution\" of WikiLeaks founder and publisher Julian Assange, who is currently fighting the Trump administration's attempt to extradite him to the United States.<\/p>\n
\"This is unprecedented,\" read a tweet from Manning's official Twitter account.<\/p>\n
BREAKING: the US governments harassment of whistleblower and activist Chelsea Manning is intensifying. The fines they are threatening her with are unprecedented. Read her legal teams statement and retweet this til it breaks https:\/\/t.co\/5QR5bnhchi<\/a><\/p>\n Evan Greer (@evan_greer) May 16, 2019<\/p>\n