Chelsea Manning lawyers accuse prison officials of cutting contact with whistleblower after she is hospitalised

Manning's legal team say family and counsel have not had access for more than 36 hours

Chelsea Manning sued the US government for the right to live as a woman (Reuters)

Lawyers representing Chelsea Manning have criticised the US military for allegedly cutting their contact with the imprisoned whistleblower amid concern over her health.

Manning, 28, was rushed to hospital this week. Unconfirmed reports suggested she had tried to take her own life.

The former US army soldier is serving a 35-year sentence at Fort Leavenworth military prison in Kansas for leaking over 700,000 classified documents to Wikileaks. She filed an appeal against her prison sentence in May.

A spokesperson for the US Army told the Associated Press Manning was taken to hospital early on 5 July and has since returned to barracks. The spokesperson said Manning’s condition is being “monitored” but would not comment on why Manning needed to be treated in hospital.

Manning's lawyer Nancy Hollander said a privileged legal call was cancelled on Tuesday, with the prison claiming “the call could not be connected” despiter the team waiting by the phone.

She told the Independent his lawyers have still not been able to make contact this morning.

Hollander said Mannings’ legal team are “shocked and outraged” that private medical information about Manning was apparently leaked to the press, “yet no one at the army has given a shred of information to her legal team”.

Manning's sister, Casey Major, said she also was unaware her sister had been taken to hospital until being notified by journalists.

“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 said in a statement.

Manning, who is transgender, has documented some of her experiences of prison and transitioning in blogs.

Hollander and the US Department of Defence did not immediately respond to a request for comment.