WikiLeaks suspect back in court

The defence says US military prosecutors are drawing comparisons between an Army private's alleged leak of classified documents to US Civil War-era cases involving coded messages in newspapers.

The argument emerged during a pre-trial hearing at Fort Meade for Bradley Manning. The hearing continues today.

The issue is whether Manning's motive is relevant to a charge he aided the enemy by sending reams of classified documents to the secret-sharing website WikiLeaks.

The government contends Manning knew, or should have known, that the information would be seen by al-Qaida.

Defence lawyer David Coombs said that prosecutors are citing Civil War-era cases concerning soldiers who placed coded messages in newspaper ads.

Mr Coombs said Manning's alleged offences are more akin to providing government documents to a newspaper.