Amid Health Concerns, Chelsea Manning's Legal Team Demand Access

Whistleblower Chelsea Manning was reportedly taken to the hospital on Wednesday. (Photo: Alicia Neal, in cooperation with Chelsea Manning, commissioned by the Chelsea Manning Support Network)

Amid Health Concerns, Chelsea Manning's Legal Team Demand Access

Military whistleblower currently serving a 35-year sentence

U.S. military whistleblower Chelsea Manning was taken to the hospital on Wednesday. Though one reporter tweeted that it was a suspected suicide attempt, the reason for the medical visit is still unconfirmed.

Manning, who released a trove of government and military documents to WikiLeaks, is currently serving a 35-year sentence at the military prison in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.

CNN reporter Shimon Prokup tweeted just after 8 AM that Manning was suspected of attempting suicide:

Manning's hospital visit was confirmed to CNN by U.S. Army spokesman Colonel Patrick Seiber, who said she'd been returned to the barracks.

Chase Strangio, staff attorney with the ACLU's LGBT & AIDS Project, tweeted at roughly 10 AM that though the whistleblower was taken to the hospital, the reported suicide attempt is as of yet unconfirmed:

As The Daily Dotreports, neither Manning's attorney, the Army, nor the prison have confirmed the reported suicide.

Responding to the release of her unverified medical status by an anonymous U.S. official, Nancy Hollander, lead attorney on Manning's defense team, said in a statement they were "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."

Hollander added that she believes it was "an outright lie" when the Army said her Tuesday afternoon scheduled call with Manning could not be connected, and urged the military to promptly connect the whistleblower with her support team.

"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," Hollander's statement concluded.

This story has been updated and will include more details as they become available.

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