Jailed US soldier, Chelsea Manning in hospital after suicide attempt

Chelsea Manning, the transgender military whistleblower serving a 35-year sentence, has been rushed to hospital after reportedly trying to take her own life.

A US media report said that Manning, who us being held at in a cell at the US Military Disciplinary Barracks at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, was taken to hospital early on Tuesday morning. CNN said that it was believed that the 28-year-old had tried to kill herself.

Chelsea's legal team released a statement on government leak of their client's confidential medical information.

It was shared by Chase Strangio, a Staff Attorney with the ACLU’s LGBT & AIDS Project.

Read below:

For Immediate Release: July 6, 2016

Contact: Christina DiPasquale, 202.716.1953, Christina@balestramedia.com

Today, an unnamed official at the Army revealed unverified information relating to Chelsea Manning’s confidential medical status to the media and Nancy Hollander, lead attorney on her defense team, released the following statement:

“We’re shocked and outraged that an official at Leavenworth contacted the press with private confidential medical information about Chelsea Manning yet no one at the Army has given a shred of information to her legal team.

“I had a privileged call scheduled with Chelsea at 2pm Leavenworth time yesterday, after the Army has now said she was hospitalized, but the Army gave the excuse—which I now believe to be an outright lie—that the call could not be connected although my team was waiting by the phone.

“Despite the fact that they have reached out to the media, and that any other prison will connect an emergency call, the Army has told her lawyers that the earliest time that they will accommodate a call between her lawyers and Chelsea is Friday morning. We call on the Army to immediately connect Chelsea Manning to her lawyers and friends who care deeply about her well-being and are profoundly distressed by the complete lack of official communication about Chelsea’s current situation.”