“This is disgusting, and all due to the efforts of the DOJ to criminalize the publication of classified information in order to prosecute WikiLeaks and Assange: something all press freedom groups, major newspapers & even the Obama DOJ said would be a major threat to press freedom.”

Glenn Greenwald (March 8 2019)

“Nothing disgusting about this at all. Typical grand jury contempt process. Witnesses can’t refuse to testify unless invoking 5th Amendment protections. USGOVT should always pursue unlawful leaking of classified information.”

Mark Zaid (March 8 2019)

March 8 2019 — Today, former US intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning has been jailed for refusing to testify before an investigation into WikiLeaks. Follow us on Twitter: @INTEL_TODAY

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UPDATE (March 10 2019) — Whether people agree, or not, with what I believe has never been an issue.

Nevertheless, I will admit that once in a while, I am glad to see that people I respect share my view on a given topic.

Yesterday, former UK ambassador Craig Murray penned another of his magnificent pieces, part of which I want to share with you. Regards, L

On International Women’s Day yesterday Chelsea Manning was imprisoned yet again, this time for refusing to testify against Julian Assange before a Grand Jury.

Chelsea has already suffered over seven years of total imprisonment – no American had ever previously spent more than three years in jail for releasing government secrets to the public, in a land which had historically valued free speech.

I am in awe of Chelsea’s courage in refusing to testify, and shocked at a system that imprisons somebody for contempt of court for maintaining dignified silence.

Chelsea has also done a great service in finally stripping away the last vestige of excuse from the figures who refuse to support Julian Assange, pretending that they do not believe he faces extradition to the United States, and that the legal issue is not about Wkileaks’ right to publish.

The potential charges in Sweden – always based on quite ludicrous accusations – were dropped years ago after he was finally interviewed in the Ecuadorean Embassy by Swedish police and prosecutors, and it became very plain indeed there was no viable case against him.

Chelsea has gone to prison for refusing to participate in the prosecution of Wikileaks for publishing materials that revealed war crimes in the American occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan.

Chelsea is a whistleblower, not a publisher. Assange is a publisher, not a whistleblower. If Assange can be prosecuted for publishing official secrets, then so can every newspaper editor or television editor involved in the receipt of whistleblower material.

There is a massive, a fundamental, media freedom issue at stake here. Even so, the MSM in the UK do not even have the guts to state the truth about what causes Julian to be confined to the Ecuadorean Embassy, let alone to support his right to publish.

END of UPDATE

This is obviously horribly worrisome. No one should suffer this torture. Chelsea is quite a courageous person.

Tonight, I will make just one point. The tweet from Mark Zaid is utterly repulsive.

Over the last few years, several members of the US Intelligence Community — and I don’t mean two or three — have told me that Zaid has repeatedly betrayed his clients.

Perhaps the most obvious case was Jeffrey Sterling.

As of today, I no longer have any doubt that he did. I strongly advise all his clients to quickly find a more serious attorney before they discover the truth.

And this warning includes all the people who are victims of the Havana Syndrome.

Zaid will not expose the truth about what actually happened! I am CERTAIN of that.

In just a few months, Zaid will be ridiculed, once and forever, for the lies he told about the Lockerbie Case.

You have my word on this.

Regards, L

REFERENCES

Chelsea Manning: Wikileaks source jailed for refusing to testify — BBC News

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International Women’s Day 2019 — Chelsea Manning Goes to Jail

International Women’s Day 2019 — Chelsea Manning Goes to Jail [UPDATE]