Chelsea blew the whistle on US government human rights abuses. She exposed earth-shattering information, shining a spotlight on the horrors of war. And the US government came after her with a vengeance.
She was subjected to pretrial detention conditions condemned by the UN
Special Rapporteur on Torture and and Other Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading
Treatment or Punishment. Chelsea received an unprecedentedly long
sentence for giving information to the media. Thankfully, after the
mobilization of support from people like you, her sentence was
commuted.
Now, Chelsea has been back in jail for nine months, and faces nine more.
Not because she has committed any crime, but because of her
conscientious objection to participating in a secretive, unjust grand
jury investigation into the publication of her 2010 disclosures.
Chelsea’s refusal to participate in this process is part of a long
history of resistance to grand juries, which are routinely used to
harass and entrap activists, journalists, and truth tellers. In a
shocking move, the judge in the case has imposed massive fines on
Chelsea, charging her $1,000 per day while the US government holds her
in confinement, ostensibly to convince her to agree to their demand that
she give testimony to the grand jury
Chelsea
has already served half of the 18 month maximum that the government can
hold her. She’s about to spend another birthday in a jail cell. The US
government has no legal justification for continuing to imprison her.
This must stop. Sign the petition now.
In Solidarity,
Chip Gibbons
Policy & Legislative Counsel
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