Chelsea Manning, a former US military intelligence analyst and whistleblower, was ordered back to prison on Thursday after again refusing to testify in a case involving Wikileaks, US media reported on Thursday.

The US government has accused WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange of conspiring with Manning to leak a trove of classified material in 2010.

US District Judge Anthony Trenga found Manning in contempt of court for refusing to cooperate a second time and ordered her back to the Alexandria Detention Center in Virginia, according CBS.

The judge said she would be fined 500 dollars per day in 30 days if she still refuses to testify, and that the fine would increase to 1,000 dollars per day after 60 days, the broadcaster reported.

The order comes only days after Manning was released from the same jail, where she had been held for two months for refusing to testify in a grand jury case involving whistleblower website Wikileaks. That case had expired.

Manning argued that incarceration would not convince her to testify.

"I would rather starve to death than change my position in this regard," Manning told the court before she was taken into custody for a stint that could last 18 months, according to NBC.

Manning was jailed for seven years and released in 2017 after former president Barack Obama commuted her 35-year sentence for leaking a trove of documents to WikiLeaks, including State Department cables and military videos.