HOUSTON (AP) — An appeals court on Monday ordered the release of the leaders of a Texas-based group that promotes election conspiracy theories after they had been jailed last week for not complying with a court order to provide information in a defamation lawsuit over some of their claims.

Catherine Engelbrecht and Gregg Phillips, who run True the Vote, had been detained since Oct. 31 after being held in contempt by U.S. District Judge Kenneth Hoyt in Houston.

Engelbrecht, Phillips and their nonprofit organization are being sued by Michigan-based election software provider Konnech Inc. over True the Vote’s claims of a Chinese-related conspiracy involving U.S. poll workers’ information.

The lawsuit alleges Houston-based True the Vote’s leaders illegally downloaded from Konnech’s server the personal data of 1.8 million U.S. poll workers. They were jailed by Hoyt after declining to reveal the names of everyone who helped them access the data.

In a one-page ruling, the 5th U.S. Circuit of Appeals granted a request by lawyers for Engelbrecht and Phillips to free them while they appeal Hoyt’s order to detain them.

It was not immediately known when Engelbrecht and Phillips would be released. Michael Wynne, an attorney for the two, did not immediately return an email seeking comment.

https://apnews.com/article/2022-midterm-elections-technology-texas-lawsuit