Chelsea Manning Is Headed Back to Jail

Chelsea Manning has been sent to jail—again—for refusing to testify to a grand jury, the AP reports. A judge on Thursday ordered Manning back to the Alexandria Detention Center until she agrees to testify to a grand jury investigating Wikileaks or until the grand jury term expires in 18 months. Manning has already served two months in jail on a previous subpoena but was released last week when that grand jury term expired. Manning has said she objects to grand juries in principle. Judge Anthony Trenga, who found her in civil contempt once again for refusing the latest subpoena, was not impressed with her rationale and said that jail time may cause her to reflect differently on the issue. Manning told the judge that she would "rather starve to death" than change her opinion.

The judge also ordered her to be fined $500 per day after 30 days and $1,000 per day after 60 days, CNN reports. Prior to the hearing, Manning told reporters she would stay in jail "forever" rather than testify. She argued that she should not be sent to jail because she has already demonstrated that incarceration won't coerce her into testifying. The former Army intelligence analyst served seven years in a military prison for leaking a trove of documents to WikiLeaks before then-President Barack Obama commuted the remainder of her 35-year sentence. After Thursday's hearing, Manning was remanded by the US Marshals Service and will be returned to detention.

(More Chelsea Manning stories.)