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UPDATE: Chelsea Manning Says She ‘Will Not Comply’ With Grand Jury

Chelsea Manning, jailed, will "not comply" with secret grand jury proceedings.

“I will not participate in a secret process that I morally object to."

UPDATE 03/11/19:

Activist group Chelsea Resists! released a statement on behalf of Chelsea Manning after she was jailed on Friday.

"I will not comply with this, or any other grand jury," the statement, posted by Manning's Twitter account, reads. "I will not participate in a secret process that I morally object to, particularly one that has been historically used to entrap and persecute activists for protected free speech."

ORIGINAL STORY BELOW:

Chelsea Manning has been taken into federal custody after refusing to answer questions before a grand jury, ABC News reports.

As reported last week, Manning -- a former intelligence analyst with the U.S. military who served three years in confinement and four years in prison for leaking classified government documents to WikiLeaks -- was subpoenaed to testify before a grand jury on unknown grounds. The reasons why were not explained, not even to her, though many speculated that the subpoena, issued by the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, had something to do with an indictment against WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange that has come out of the same court.

On Thursday, the famed whistleblower -- who has become a prominent voice for trans rights and government transparency since former President Barack Obama commuted her 35-year prison sentence in 2017 -- testified before the grand jury. Manning declined to answer their questions, citing her constitutional and statutory rights.

"All of the substantive questions [the grand jury asked] pertained to my disclosures of information to the public in 2010 -- answers I provided in extensive testimony, during my court-martial in 2013," Manning wrote in a statement, tweeted Thursday. "I responded to each question with the following statement: 'I object to the question and refuse to answer on the grounds that the question is in violation of my First, Fourth, and Sixth Amendment and other statutory rights.'"

A federal judge found Manning in contempt of court for refusing to answer questions and ordered her jailed. She will remain in federal custody until either she agrees to answer the grand jury's questions or the court finishes its work.

"In solidarity with many activists facing the odds, I will stand by my principles," Manning said in her statement. "I will exhaust every legal remedy available. My legal team continues to challenge the secrecy of these proceedings, and I am prepared to face the consequences of my refusal."

RELATED | Chelsea Manning Will Testify Before a Grand Jury

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