Whistleblower Chelsea Manning 'glad to be alive' after suicide attempt

Chelsea Manning has tweeted that she is "OK" following a suicide attempt last week.

The 28-year-old transgender soldier, who was imprisoned for sending classified information to the whistleblowing website WikiLeaks, posted on her Twitter account last night: "I'm glad to be alive".

I am okay. I'm glad to be alive. Thank you all for your love <3 I will get through this. #standwithchelsea

— Chelsea E. Manning (@xychelsea) July 12, 2016

Manning, who was taken to hospital after the incident, does not 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 lawyers said the suicide attempt happened at the prison early on July 5.

She was convicted as Bradley Manning in 2013 and sentenced to 35 years in jail.

She is appealing the criminal case, arguing that her sentence is unfair and her actions were those of a naive, troubled soldier.