After almost five years of legal squabbles, U.S. whistleblower Chelsea Manning has been found inadmissible to enter Canada because of her convictions for leaking a massive trove of U.S. military and diplomatic secrets to WikiLeaks.
The declaration by the Immigration and Refugee Board (IRB) means one of the world’s best-known whistleblowers won’t be able to cross into Canada for speaking engagements, work or to visit friends.
Manning’s lawyers say the decision, sent to them April 8, will be appealed to the Federal Court, and they will press a constitutional challenge of Canadian law that “criminalizes whistleblowing.”
Joshua Blum and Lex Gill already claim some measure of success because the IRB rejected Canada Border Service Agency’s “alarming argument” that releasing information to the media could constitute communication to a foreign entity or terrorist group.
The IRB agreed with Manning on many key issues, in fact, but she could not avoid the thorny issue of her convictions.
In 2010, while a military analyst with the U.S. Army deployed to Iraq, Manning leaked hundreds of thousands of documents, including an explosive video of two U.S. helicopters opening fire and killing 11 people on the ground, including two children and two journalists.
She testified at an immigration hearing in October that she did it to alert the public to what was really going on in the war on terror and how it differed from official versions.
Manning was convicted...
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