Former Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning is fighting for life after attempting suicide inside a Virginia jail cell, DailyMail.com can exclusively reveal.

Sources said Manning – who has been held in custody since May for refusing to testify before a grand jury investigating WikiLeaks and Julian Assange – tried to hang herself with a sheet inside Alexandra Detention Center.

The 31-year-old still had a pulse when she was found at around 1pm, however, and DailyMail.com understands she was still breathing while en route to the hospital.

Manning previously spent seven years in military prison for leaking hundreds of thousands of classified US documents to WikiLeaks in 2010.

Former Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning, 31, attempted suicide inside her jail cell at the Alexandria Detention Center in Virginia, DailyMail.com can exclusively reveal. Manning pictured in 2017

Former Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning, 31, attempted suicide inside her jail cell at the Alexandria Detention Center in Virginia, DailyMail.com can exclusively reveal. Manning pictured in 2017

But she told a judge last May she would rather starve to death than change her decision to testify about it in front of a grand jury in the Eastern District of Virginia.

Manning’s lawyers have called for her to be set free and UN special rapporteur Nilz Melzer has denounced her captivity as a form of torture.

‘A jail deputy discovered her while conducting a check in the special housing unit where Chelsea is being housed,’ a source told DailyMail.com.

‘They found her with a sheet around her neck. Other deputies arrived and first aid was administered before she was taken to the hospital.’

Manning was originally sentenced to 35 years for leaking to WikiLeaks but was released in May 2017 after President Barack Obama commuted her time in prison.

Chlsea was found with a sheet around her neck in her cell at the Alexandria Detention Center (above), two days before she was scheduled to appear in court for hearing

Chlsea was found with a sheet around her neck in her cell at the Alexandria Detention Center (above), two days before she was scheduled to appear in court for hearing

Chlsea was found with a sheet around her neck in her cell at the Alexandria Detention Center (above), two days before she was scheduled to appear in court for hearing

In March of last year she was called to testify to a grand jury – a panel investigating major crimes that operates in secrecy – about her work with the site’s founder, Assange.

When Manning refused and accused the government of abusing the grand jury process a judge found her in contempt of court and jailed her indefinitely.

She was released two months later when the grand jury’s mandate expired but and was called to testify before another one, asking many of the same questions.

Manning refused a second time, telling Judge Anthony Trenga she would ‘rather starve to death’ that comply.

He responded by jailing her again and hitting her with daily fines that have increased over time to $1,000 every day of her incarceration.

In February Manning’s lawyers lodged a motion calling for her to be set free, saying she would never change her mind.

‘Her incarceration is not serving its only permissible purpose,’ it said.

Manning, a transgender woman whom supporters call a whistleblower, passed more 700,000 classified documents to WikiLeaks that exposed possible war crimes and internal US communications about other countries.

Manning, a transgender woman whom supporters call a whistleblower, passed more 700,000 classified documents to WikiLeaks that exposed possible war crimes and internal US communications about other countries. Manning, who enlisted in the Army in 2007, pictured above in uniform

Manning, a transgender woman whom supporters call a whistleblower, passed more 700,000 classified documents to WikiLeaks that exposed possible war crimes and internal US communications about other countries. Manning, who enlisted in the Army in 2007, pictured above in uniform

Manning, a transgender woman whom supporters call a whistleblower, passed more 700,000 classified documents to WikiLeaks that exposed possible war crimes and internal US communications about other countries. Manning, who enlisted in the Army in 2007, pictured above in uniform

In 2013 a military judge found Manning guilty of 20 counts, six under the espionage act but acquitted her of the most serious charge of aiding the enemy.

Assange, 48, is currently in jail in the UK where he faces extradition proceedings after a grand jury in the US agreed he put lives at risk by leaking classified documents.

He was arrested last April at the Ecuadorian Embassy in London where he had been seeking asylum since 2012.

Assange faces 18 charges and a possible 175 prison sentence.

Manning’s attorney, Moira Meltzer-Cohen, confirmed her suicide attempt in a statement to DailyMail.com.

‘On Wednesday March 11 Chelsea Manning attempted to take her own life. She was taken to a hospital and is currently recovering,’ she said.

‘Ms. Manning is still scheduled to appear on Friday for a previously calendared hearing, at which Judge Anthony Trenga will rule on a motion to terminate the civil contempt sanctions stemming from her May, 2019 refusal to give testimony before a grand jury investigating the publication of her 2010 disclosures.

‘In spite of those sanctions – which have so far included over a year of so-called “coercive” incarceration and nearly half a million dollars in threatened fines – she remains unwavering in her refusal to participate in a secret grand jury process that she sees as highly susceptible to abuse.’

Meltzer-Cohen said Manning had previously indicated that she ‘will not betray her principles, even at risk of grave harm to herself’.

She added: ‘Her actions today evidence the strength of her convictions, as well as the profound harm she continues to suffer as a result of her “civil” confinement – a coercive practice that the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture, Nils Melzer, recently said violates international law.’ 

Read more at DailyMail.co.uk