Chelsea Manning’s lawyers have renewed their fight to once again free the whistleblower from prison.

Moira Meltzer-Cohen, Ms Manning’s attorney, filed a motion with an eastern district federal court calling for her release after nearly a year of imprisonment, according to a report in The Guardian.

Ms Manning has been incarcerated in the Alexandria detention center after refusing to testify before a federal grand jury investigating WikiLeaks and its founder, Julian Assange.

For every day that Ms Manning refuses to cooperate with the grand jury, she is being fined $1,000. Her total fine is currently around $230,000.

Prior to her current incarceration, Ms Manning - a former US Army soldier - was in prison for seven years until her 35 year sentence was commuted in 2017. Ms Manning had been convicted of 17 of the 22 charges brought against her for her involvement in a leak of troves of classified US documents.

Protesters urge Obama to commute Chelsea Manning's sentence Show all 12 1 /12 Protesters urge Obama to commute Chelsea Manning's sentence Protesters urge Obama to commute Chelsea Manning's sentence torbakhopper/Flickr Protesters urge Obama to commute Chelsea Manning's sentence Garry Knight/Flickr Protesters urge Obama to commute Chelsea Manning's sentence People hold signs calling for the release of imprisoned wikileaks whistleblower Chelsea Manning while marching in a gay pride parade in San Francisco, California June 28, 2015. Manning has appealed to an Army court to overturn her court-martial conviction, a court filing released on Thursday said. Reuters Protesters urge Obama to commute Chelsea Manning's sentence Around twenty activists associated with the Chelsea Manning support group rally in front of the White House in Washington DC, Sunday May 11, 2014. Stephen Melkisethian/Flickr Protesters urge Obama to commute Chelsea Manning's sentence Daily Chalkupy/Flickr Protesters urge Obama to commute Chelsea Manning's sentence Around twenty activists associated with the Chelsea Manning support group rally in front of the White House in Washington DC, Sunday May 11, 2014. Protesters urge Obama to commute Chelsea Manning's sentence Twitter Protesters urge Obama to commute Chelsea Manning's sentence Abigail Edward holds up a sign advocating the release of WikiLeaks whistle blower Chelsea Manning along the Gay Pride parade route in San Francisco, California on Sunday, June, 26, 2016. Josh Edelson/AFP/Getty Images Protesters urge Obama to commute Chelsea Manning's sentence Demonstration for Chelsea Manning in London, England, United Kingdom. Chelsea Manning (born Bradley Edward Manning) is a United States Army soldier who was convicted by court-martial in July 2013 of violations of the Espionage Act and other offenses, after disclosing to WikiLeaks nearly three-quarters of a million classified or unclassified but sensitive military and diplomatic documents. Manning was sentenced in August 2013 to 35 years imprisonment, with the possibility of parole in the eighth year, and to be dishonorably discharged from the Army. Manning is a trans woman who, in a statement the day after sentencing, said she had felt female since childhood, wanted to be known as Chelsea, and desired to begin hormone replacement therapy. From early life and through much of her Army life, Manning was known as Bradley; she was diagnosed with gender identity disorder while in the Army. Mike Kemp/Getty Protesters urge Obama to commute Chelsea Manning's sentence Chelsea M Queer Friends/Twitter Protesters urge Obama to commute Chelsea Manning's sentence Instagram Protesters urge Obama to commute Chelsea Manning's sentence Jil Love Revolution/Instagram

At the time, the sentence levied against Ms Manning was called “unjust and unfair” by the Guardian and “excessive” by the New York Times.

Nils Melzer, the UN’s special rapporteur on torture, said Ms Manning’s current incarceration and fining was a form of torture.

Ms Meltzer-Cohen has filed for Ms Manning’s release, calling her incarceration an illegal use of a “punitive sanction.” The attorney is arguing that the punishment serves no purpose as Ms Manning will never be coerced into testifying.

“Over the last decade, Chelsea Manning has shown unwavering resolve in the face of censure, punishment and even threats of violence. As Ms Manning’s resolve not to testify has been unwavering, and as her moral conviction has become only more developed since her confinement, her incarceration is not serving its only permissible purpose,” the motion stated.

Ms Manning has made her position on grand juries clear in past statements, explaining that she refused to testify due to her “long standing believe that grand juries, as they function in the contemporary era, are often used by federal prosecutors to harass and disrupt political opponents and activists through secrecy, coercion and jailing without trial. No matter how much you punish me, I will remain confident in my decision.”

Mr Assange, who is currently being held in a prison in London, is facing extradition to the US following indictment by a grand jury on 18 charges relating to his possession of secret US government and military documents.

Wednesday, Mr Assange’s lawyers said that President Donald Trump - by way of former Congressman Dana Rohrabaher - offered the arch whistleblower a pardon if he agreed to cover up Russia’ involvement in hacking the Democratic National Committee’s emails.

The White House Press Secretary Stephanie Grisham denied the allegations.