Thursday, October 07, 2021

WAIT, WHAT 
UPDATED
Ottawa wanted U.S. whistleblower Chelsea Manning to come to Canada so she could be kicked out in person

The IRB adjudicator dismissed the government’s motion, saying the intent of Parliament was simply for people who aren't allowed to be in Canada to not be here

Author of the article:Adrian Humphreys
Publishing date:Oct 07, 2021 
PHOTO BY CLIFF OWEN/AP, FILE

The government of Canada asked U.S. whistleblower Chelsea Manning to travel to Canada so border agents would be able to physically kick her out of Canada.


The odd request was made by government lawyers last week in anticipation of an immigration hearing scheduled to begin Thursday for the former U.S. soldier who leaked thousands of U.S. documents that changed the public’s view of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

The hearing on whether Manning is eligible to visit Canada is to be held by video conference.

Lawyers on behalf of the Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness asked the Immigration and Refugee Board (IRB) to postpone the hearing until Manning is in Canada for it, rather than participating over a video link from her home in the United States.

The government said that if she wasn’t physically in the country, Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) wouldn’t be able to remove her, if the government wins its case.

“The purpose of a removal order is to compel an individual who is found to be inadmissible to leave Canada. Should the (IRB) issue a removal order against an individual who does not attend their hearing from a location in Canada,” the government told the IRB in written argument, it would “be impractical for CBSA to enforce the order.”

Manning’s lawyers objected to the request.

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In a decision Monday, IRB adjudicator Marisa Musto dismissed the government’s motion, saying the intent of Parliament was simply for people who aren’t allowed to be in Canada to not be here.

If Manning is found to be inadmissible after the hearing, the impact on Manning would be the same wherever in the world she was, Musto said.

“If she were physically in Canada when the order was made, the requirement would be that she leave Canada. Given that she is already outside Canada, a fact which is not in question, it can be said that the ‘objective’ of (immigration laws) … would, de facto, be fulfilled,” Musto said in her ruling.

“Admissibility proceedings not only have the effect of removing inadmissible persons from Canadian territory but also to preclude them from entering.”

Musto said there had already been plenty of admissibility hearings for people outside of Canada that the government did not object to.

“This inconsistency in the Minister’s position is confounding.”

Manning, a 33-year-old American citizen, was a military intelligence analyst deployed to Iraq in 2009 who became one of the best-known American whistleblowers after leaking a vast trove of documents through Wikileaks to major news organizations around the world.

The documents revealed undeclared civilian deaths, complicity in torture, significant human rights abuses and evidence contradicting the U.S. government’s public versions of its wartime actions.

Manning was arrested and convicted under the U.S. Espionage Act and Computer Fraud and Abuse Act and sentenced to 35 years in prison, the longest sentence ever issued in the United States for leaking.

In 2017, after seven years in prison, Manning’s sentence was commuted by U.S. President Barack Obama.

Soon after her release, Manning tried to come to Canada but was stopped at the border. She was considered inadmissible by CBSA because she has been convicted of a serious criminal offence outside Canada.

A hearing on her admissibility is scheduled for two days, but a decision is not expected to be released immediately afterwards. Written submissions are expected from both Manning and the government following oral arguments.

On Sept. 17, Manning said she tested positive for COVID-19 despite being fully vaccinated.

“I will be quarantined for the remainder of the month — my symptoms are very mild thanks to being fully vaxxed in April,” she said on Twitter.

On Oct. 1, Manning tweeted: “off quarantine and feeling good.”

• Email: ahumphreys@postmedia.com | Twitter: AD_Humphreys

Chelsea Manning hearing: Lawyers object to video of U.S. soldiers killing civilians and laughing

Federal lawyers seeking to have the U.S. whistleblower declared inadmissible to Canada are objecting to the explosive video she released to WikiLeaks

Author of the article: Adrian Humphreys
Publishing date: Oct 07, 2021
Canada Border Services Agency is seeking to have U.S. whistleblower Chelsea Manning declared inadmissible to the country, which would prevent her from visiting and speaking at events in Canada. PHOTO BY SCREEN CAPTURE


Government of Canada lawyers seeking to have U.S. whistleblower Chelsea Manning declared inadmissible to Canada object to the explosive video she leaked — of the U.S. military shooting civilians in Iraq and laughing — being shown at her immigration hearing.

The lawyers for Manning, Joshua Blum and Lex Gill, said they plan on showing the video, which caused international outrage when it was publicly released by WikiLeaks in 2010, at Manning’s immigration hearing on Thursday.

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U.S. whistleblower Chelsea Manning challenging secrecy laws barring her from Canada


Canada Border Services Agency is seeking to have Manning declared inadmissible to the country, preventing her from visiting and speaking at events in Canada, citing her serious criminal convictions in the U.S. over her massive leak of classified material.

The video, taken from onboard a U.S. military helicopter in Iraq in 2007, features 39 minutes of gunsight footage with soldiers killing 10 civilians, including two children and two Reuters journalists. Soldiers can be heard laughing at the incident.

The video contradicted official statements at the time of the killings that the helicopter was shot at before soldiers opened fire.

Government lawyers, Josée Barrette and Anthony Lashley, objected to the video being shown and entered as an exhibit, saying it was not relevant, was submitted late and was sent as a link to an online copy of the video rather than copied on to a CD.

IRB adjudicator Marisa Musto overruled the government’s objection.


The video, called “Collateral Murder” by WikiLeaks when it was released but referred to as “Collateral Damage” at the IRB hearing, is expected to be viewed when Manning testifies, scheduled for later Thursday.



Also expected to testify at the hearing is Heidi Matthews, an assistant professor of law at Osgoode Hall Law School in Toronto. Called as a witness by Manning, Matthews is to testify on the international crimes revealed by Manning’s disclosures.

Manning’s expected testimony cannot be fully open because she is still bound by a non-disclosure agreement that she signed with the U.S. government, her lawyers warned at the start of the hearing.

That agreement prevents her from discussing the contents of the documents and files she leaked, under threat of prison time, but allows her to discuss what led up to her leaking the material and why she did it.

Manning, a 33-year-old American citizen, was an intelligence analyst deployed to Iraq who became one of the best-known American whistleblowers after leaking a vast trove of documents through WikiLeaks to major news organizations around the world.

The documents revealed undeclared civilian deaths, complicity in torture, significant human rights abuses and evidence contradicting the U.S. government’s public versions of its wartime actions.

Manning was arrested and convicted under the U.S. Espionage Act and Computer Fraud and Abuse Act and sentenced to 35 years in prison, the longest sentence ever issued in the United States for leaking.

In 2017, after seven years in prison, Manning’s sentence was commuted by U.S. President Barack Obama.

Soon after her release, Manning tried to come to Canada but was stopped at the border. She was considered inadmissible by CBSA because she has been convicted of a serious criminal offence outside Canada.

She has been seeking to overturn that decision ever since.

Her immigration hearing continues Thursday and likely will spill over to Friday.

More on this story to come…

Controversial whistleblower Chelsea Manning fighting to be let into Canada

Canadian government is arguing she is inadmissible due to her prior convictions

Former army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning, seen in 2016, speaks with reporters, outside federal court in Alexandria, Va. The Canadian government is seeking to permanently ban her from entering, arguing that she should be denied entry because of the seriousness of her prior convictions on espionage charges. (The Associated Press)

Chelsea Manning, the former U.S. intelligence analyst who was convicted in one the largest breaches of classified information in American history, is fighting to be allowed into Canada.

The Canadian government is seeking to ban her from entering the country, arguing that she should be denied entry because of the serious criminality of her prior convictions on espionage charges in her home country.

Manning appeared virtually today in front of the Immigration and Refugee Board for an admissibility hearing. The administrative tribunal makes decisions about who can enter and stay in Canada.

"I really like Canada," she told the hearing today.

"I have many friends in Canada and obviously the pandemic has gotten in the way of a lot of this, but certainly in 2018 and 2019 I wanted to visit some friends in Canada, particularly in Montreal and Vancouver."

Her case dates back to September 2017, when border officers denied her entry at Quebec's St-Bernard-de-Lacolle border crossing. At the time, the government, citing her espionage charge, argued that if it had been committed in Canada "this offence would equate to an indictable offence, namely, treason."

Manning has been both praised as a whistleblower and condemned as a traitor for leaking hundreds of thousands of classified documents to WikiLeaks, the website founded by Julian Assange, in 2010 while serving in the U.S. military.

She said she wanted to expose what she saw as the U.S. military's disregard for how the Iraq War was affecting civilians, and that she did it "out of love" for her country.

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

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

Anthony Lashley, a government lawyer, said Ottawa is asking the tribunal to rule that she is not permitted to enter the country.

Lashley spent the morning questioning Manning on how she accessed, downloaded and shared documents.

He also questioned her on her previous plans to share information with various news organizations.

'Whistleblowing are acts of honesty': lawyer

Manning's lawyer Joshua Blum argued her American offences are not equivalent to Canadian offences, making her not inadmissible. 

He pointed to a provision in the Security of Information Act, Canada's national secrets act, which includes whistleblower protection in the "public interest."

A van with a 'Free Speech' placard and images of Wikileaks founder Julian Assange and Chelsea Manning on its side sits outside the Ecuadorian Embassy in London, Friday, April 5, 2019. (The Associated Press)

"We have a public interest defence for what Manning was convicted of," he said. "The U.S. doesn't."

Blum also argued Manning's actions were justified by "necessity" and that the public interest in disclosing that information outweighed the harm.

"The ongoing and unreported killings of Iraqi and Afghan civilians necessitated this act of whistleblowing," he said.

"We further add the acts of whistleblowing are acts of honesty, not fraudulence."

'Collateral murder' video shown 

When asked by her counsel why she shared the documents, Manning said "it always feels so self evident."

"I was just shocked at how little people knew about how bad the war in particular was," she said.

While being questioned by the adjudicator, Manning said she didn't share sensitive documents that would have revealed the sources of U.S. government intelligence. She is still bound by a non-disclosure agreement with the U.S. government and did not go into detail about what she leaked.

During the proceedings, Blum and co-counsel Lex Gill turned to Heidi Matthews, an assistant professor of law at Osgoode Hall Law School in Toronto, to testify on international crimes.

As part of that questioning, they played a video titled "Collateral Murder" which made waves when it was first released on WikiLeaks more than a decade ago.

This image captured from a classified U.S. military video footage shows Iraqis being shot from an U.S. Apache helicopters that killed a dozen people in Baghdad, including two Reuters news staff, on July 12, 2007. The video was released to Reuters on April 5, 2010 by WikiLeaks. Reuters photographer Namir Noor-Eldeen, 22, and his assistant and driver Saeed Chmagh, 40, were killed in the incident. (Reuters/WikiLeaks/Handout)

The video shows a 2007 United States Army assault in Baghdad that left 12 people dead, including a Reuters photographer and driver. The video shows soldiers laughing and making jokes while taking part in the attack.

"Look at those dead bastards," one person can be overheard saying on the video. "Nice," another responds.

After an exchange of gunfire wounded two children, one soldier is heard saying on the video that "it's their fault for bringing their kids into a battle."

It was later revealed that Manning leaked the video.

Matthews argued the video contradicted official statements from the U.S. at the time of the killings, which said the helicopters had been called in to help American troops who had been attacked first.

Government lawyers said at the start of today's hearing that the video shouldn't be played, arguing it was not relevant, it was submitted too late and was sent as a link rather than a CD. They were overruled.

Ottawa wanted Manning to appear in person

Ahead of today's hearing, the government objected to Manning appearing via video conference because that would prevent officials from deporting her immediately if an order came down quickly.

"The minister submits that holding an admissibility hearing without the person concerned being physically present in Canada would preclude them from enforcing a removal order which may be issued at the end of the proceedings," says the text of an interlocutory decision that rejected the government's request.

The content of that decision was first reported by the National Post.

Last week, lawyers acting for the minister of Public Safety asked the Immigration and Refugee Board to delay the hearing until Manning could appear in person.

The board said no.

"If she were physically in Canada when the order was made, the requirement would be that she leave Canada," wrote adjudicator Marisa Musto.

"Given that she is already outside Canada, a fact which is not in question, it can be said that the 'objective' of [the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act] in regards to denying access to Canadian territory to persons who are inadmissible would, de facto, be fulfilled."

Manning described the four-year process to land a Canadian hearing as "exhausting."

"Plus, I also have to relive this era, going over stuff that happened a decade ago again," she said.

Manning was granted a visa to enter Canada to speak at an event back in 2018 — something she said she hopes to continue doing in this country — but it came with no formal resolution of her admissibility.

The hearing was adjourned until Friday.



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