US WikiLeaks witness and Bradley Manning supporter refuses to testify to grand jury

David House, centre, a founding member of the Bradley Manning Support Network, has invoked his Fifth Amendment rights against self-incrimination after being subpoenaed to the US federal court. Picture: AFP Source: PerthNow

David House, a founding member of the Bradley Manning Support Network, said he invoked his Fifth Amendment rights against self-incrimination after being subpoenaed to the US federal courthouse in Alexandria.

Prosecutors have convened a grand jury there to investigate the WikiLeaks disclosures.

Mr House said after his appearance that nearly all the questions posed by prosecutors centred on Bradley Manning, who is being held at Fort Leavenworth while military authorities conduct their own investigation into whether he illegally leaked sensitive documents about the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.

Mr House said he was not asked any questions about WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.

The Justice Department, Mr House said, "is very frantically trying to link Bradley Manning and Julian Assange, and they're casting a very wide net".

His lawyer Peter Krupp said that while Mr House has done nothing wrong, he invoked his right against self-incrimination because "any testimony he would give would be manipulated to be used against him".

Mr Krupp also accused prosecutors of using the grand jury to trample on Mr House's right to freely associate with Manning or other WikiLeaks supporters.

Prosecutors, if they choose, could give Mr House immunity for his testimony and compel him to answer questions.

If Mr House still refused to testify, he could then be charged with contempt of court and sent to jail to try and force his testimony.

Mr Krupp said prosecutors gave no indication whether they would grant Mr House immunity, and no decision has been made on what Mr House will do if he gets immunity.

About 20 supporters of Mr House and Manning staged a rally outside the courthouse to offer support.

Ray McGovern, a former CIA analyst, said that while it's important for soldiers and civilians to honour their promises to keep classified information secret, it's more important to expose wrongdoing within the government that is going unchecked.

"I'm talking about stopping war crimes. ... I'm talking about bringing people to justice. Bradley Manning, at the tender age of 22, was able to see this," Mr McGovern said.

"I have every reason to believe that was his motivation."

Mr House, 24, a freelance computer scientist from Boston, said he, too, understands the Government's desire to protect information that's vital to national security.

But he said the documents exposed by WikiLeaks provide a vital watchdog role exposing US government wrongdoing, including military attacks on civilians and foreign policy missteps.

"WikiLeaks has been cast as a breach of national security because the US Government has been embarrassed by the disclosures," Mr House said.

"I don't want to wake up every morning and just read how glorious the US Government is."