Court rejects Chelsea Manning appeal

A federal appeals court has denied Chelsea Manning’s request to overturn an order finding her in contempt for refusing to testify before a grand jury.

The order, issued Monday, rejected Manning’s argument that a judge improperly denied her request to say whether she was electronically surveilled illegally after her conviction in 2013 for leaking classified material to WikiLeaks.

“Upon consideration of the memorandum briefs filed on appeal and the record of proceedings in the district court, the court finds no error in the district court’s rulings and affirms its finding of civil contempt,” the order reads. “The court also denies appellant’s motion for release on bail.”

Manning has been held in contempt in a federal prison since March, after she refused to testify before a grand jury in a WikiLeaks investigation. A federal judge has ordered her to remain incarcerated until Manning agrees to answer questions.

What about Assange? The order also comes shortly after the arrest of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.

Federal prosecutors in the U.S. allege in recently unsealed court filings that Assange sought to help Manning crack a password to a computer on a Defense Department network that contained classified materials.

The prosecutors have noted that it’s unclear if the password was ever hacked, and the charge against Assange is unrelated to WikiLeaks’s publication of classified materials.

Legal experts have pointed to Manning’s current case as a sign that further charges could be filed against Assange, ahead of his extradition proceedings from the United Kingdom to the U.S.