Chelsea Manning has tweeted that she’s OK following her hospitalization for a suicide attempt last week.
The 28-year-old transgender soldier imprisoned for sending classified information to the anti-secrecy website WikiLeaks also posted on her Twitter account Monday night, “I’m glad to be alive.” Manning doesn’t have internet access behind bars at the military prison at Fort Leavenworth in Kansas, but wrote last year that she dictates her tweets to someone who puts them online.
Manning’s attorneys say the suicide attempt happened at the prison early July 5.
The attorneys, who said they spoke to Manning by telephone Monday for the first time since the attempt, accused the U.S. Army of a “gross breach of confidentiality” for publicly revealing last week that Manning had been hospitalized. The Army at that time didn’t offer details.
Manning’s lawyers added that the soldier “knows that people have questions about how she is doing” and will remain under close observation at the lockup for several weeks.
“She would have preferred to keep her private medical information private, and instead focus on her recovery,” said her attorneys, who appeared unaware of Manning’s hospitalization until reached by reporters the next day and who criticized leaks of the information to media outlets.
“The government’s gross breach of confidentiality in disclosing her personal health information to the media has created the very real concern that they may continue their unauthorized release of information about her publicly without warning,” they said.
Messages left Monday with an Army spokesman, Wayne Hall, were not immediately returned.
Manning was convicted as Bradley Manning in 2013 and sentenced to 35 years. She’s appealing the criminal case, arguing her sentence is unfair and her actions were those of a naive, troubled soldier.
Associated Press
