BORDER STOPS CHELSEA MANNING.
Was turned back from Quebec border crossing
MONTREAL • When she walked out of an American military prison last May after her espionage sentence was commuted, it felt to Chelsea Manning like she was entering a “dystopian novel,” she said recently.
She had seen U.S. President Donald Trump label her an “ungrateful TRAITOR” on Twitter. Harvard University this month rescinded an invitation to be a visiting fellow after the director of the Central Intelligence Agency protested.
And on Monday, Manning added Canadian immigration authorities to her list of state players who have it in for her.
“So I guess Canada has permanently banned me?” she wrote on Twitter, “denied entry b/c of convictions similar to ‘treason’ offense.”
The social media message was accompanied by a photograph of a report to the Canadian Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship detailing how Manning, 29, was turned back at a Quebec border crossing last week because of “serious criminality.”
The document says Manning sought to enter Canada as a temporary visitor at the St-Bernard-de-Lacolle crossing on Sept. 22. She informed border agents of her 2013 conviction under the United States Espionage Act for leaking classified documents.
“If committed in Canada, this offence would equate to an indictable offence, namely Treason,” the report says. In Canada, treason carries a maximum sentence of 14 years. Canada’s Immigration and Refugee Protection Act declares inadmissible any foreign national convicted of a crime that if committed in Canada would be punishable by a maximum sentence of 10 years or more.
For Manning, the claim that her crimes amounted to treason did not sit well. She wrote on Twitter that the crime cited by Canadian authorities is “not similar at all” to what she was convicted of.
The former U.S. Army intelligence analyst, who at the time was named Bradley Manning, was found to have leaked hundreds of thousands of military and diplomatic documents to WikiLeaks. Manning was found guilty of six counts of violating the Espionage Act but was acquitted on the more serious charge of aiding the enemy.
The definition of treason in Canada’s Criminal Code that most closely matches Manning’s actions is making available “to an agent of a state other than Canada, military or scientific information or any sketch, plan, model, article, note or document of a military or scientific character that he knows or ought to know may be used by that state for a purpose prejudicial to the safety or defence of Canada.”
Manning had her 35-year sentence commuted by Barack Obama in the final days of his presidency. She had served seven years since her arrest, and twice tried to kill herself in 2016. “Chelsea Manning has served a tough prison sentence,” Obama said. “She took responsibility for her crime.”
The documents she copied and released to WikiLeaks revealed abuses of detainees by Iraqi military officers and suggested that civilian deaths in the Iraq war were higher than officially reported.
Critics said her actions had endangered the lives of intelligence sources, although in the end there was no evidence that any lives were lost as a result of the leaks.
At a Sept. 17 event in Nantucket, Mass., Manning denied that she is the “American traitor” that her critics paint her as. “I believe I did the best I could in my circumstances to make an ethical decision,” she told the crowd, the Associated Press reported.
Manning, who could not be reached for additional comment Monday, wrote on Twitter that she has requested a hearing to challenge her denial of entry. No date has been set for the hearing.
Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale said he was not consulted about Manning’s case, and he would be reluctant to intervene, the Canadian Press reported.
“When a Canada Border Services officer has exercised appropriately within their jurisdiction the judgment that they are called upon to make, I don’t interfere in that process in any kind of a light or cavalier manner,” he said.
The Canada Border Services Agency said it could not confirm or deny that Manning was turned back. “The fair and consistent application of the law is the CBSA’s top priority,” spokesman Barre Campbell said.
Admissibility is decided “on a case-by-case basis” and can involve such factors as “involvement in criminal activity, human rights violations, and organized crime, or security, health or financial considerations,” he said.
SO I GUESS CANADA HAS PERMANENTLY BANNED ME?