Chelsea Manning can't enter Canada due to prior convictions, says immigration board

Chelsea Manning, the former U.S. intelligence analyst who was convicted in one of the largest breaches of classified information in Americanhistory, will not be allowed to enter Canada due to her prior convictions in the United States.

In a decision dated April 8, the Immigration and Refugee Board sided with the federal government that she should be denied entry due to the gravity of her espionage record.

"Considering that Ms. Manning was convicted of an offence outside Canada that if committed in Canada would constitute an offence under an act of Parliament punishable by a term of imprisonment of at least 10 years,"the panel's decision noted.

Manning's fight dates back to September 2017, when border officers denied her entry and argued that if her offenceshad been committed in Canada, they would"equate to an indictable offence, namely, treason."

The Canada Border Services Agency can deny entry to any travelleron the basis of"criminal inadmissibility."

Manning became famousmore than a decade agoby leaking hundreds of thousands of classified documents to WikiLeaks, the website founded by Julian Assange, while serving in the U.S. military.

Her actions haveattracted both praise and condemnation.

Manning said she wanted to expose what she saw as the U.S. military's disregard for how the Iraq war was hurting civilians, and that she did it "out oflove" for her country.

In 2013, she was convicted of six counts of violating the Espionage Act which forbidsunauthorized peoplefrom sharing national defence information and a handful of other charges, including stealing government property. She was acquitted of themost serious charge against her: aiding the enemy.

Lawyers say they will seek a review

In one of his last acts as U.S. president, Barack Obama commuted Manning's sentencein 2017. She was released from military prison after serving seven years of a 35-year sentence.

During her Canadian hearing, Manning'slawyers argued her American offences are not equivalent to Canadianoffences and she should be allowed to enter.

Manning's lawyers also arguedher actions were justified by "necessity" and that the public interest in disclosing thatinformation outweighed the harm.

"I was just shocked at how little people knew about how bad the war in particular was," Manning said Thursday during testimony under oath.

Her lawyers say they intend to seek a judicial review.