Montreal (AFP) – Chelsea Manning, a former American soldier jailed for leaking troves of classified information, said Monday that she was banned from entering Canada due to criminal convictions in the United States.
Manning wrote on Twitter that “i guess canada has permanently banned me,” posting an image of a document that described why she was denied entry.
The document said that Manning had committed a crime outside the country that “would equate to an indictable offense, namely treason” in Canada and which carries a maximum sentence of 14 years imprisonment.
Committing a crime elsewhere that would carry a maximum sentence of at least 10 years in Canada is grounds for a person to be denied entry, the document said.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau declined to comment “on any specific case” at a news conference, and said he looked “forward to seeing more details about this situation.”
Manning was sentenced to 35 years in prison in 2013 for leaking more than 700,000 classified documents to WikiLeaks three years earlier, when she was known as Bradley.
She served seven years, and twice tried to take her own life last year alone, before then-president Barack Obama commuted her sentence just days before he left office in January.
Manning was released from Fort Leavenworth’s all-male prison in May.
During her incarceration, Manning battled for — and won — the right to start hormone treatment. She now has cropped blonde hair and a decidedly feminine look.
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