Arrest comes just days after refusal to testify at grand jury summons.

Former US army soldier Chelsea Manning was taken into custody on Friday in Alexandria, Virginia, after a federal judge found her in contempt of court. The arrest comes after Manning's refusal earlier this week to provide testimony to a grand jury as part of an ongoing investigation into the open information website Wikileaks, and its founder, Julian Assange.

Manning was convicted by a military tribunal in 2013 of espionage and other crimes for, among other things, leaking a graphic video showing a US helicopter gunship opening fire on civilians in Iraq, including two Reuters cameramen. The video, along with a trove of documents and cables, was published in 2007 by the website WikiLeaks. Manning was sentenced to 35 years in prison. After serving 7 years, including time in solitary confinement, her sentence was commuted, but not pardoned, in 2017, shortly before the end of Barack Obama's last term in office.

Manning's refusal to testify after being summoned earlier this week will lead to her indefinite imprisonment. She will not be released until either she agrees to testify, or the grand jury investigation into Assange and Wikileaks ends.