Move to ban Chelsea Manning from Australia a 'political stunt' to appease Trump
Human rights advocates rally to support US whistleblower, saying if the government ‘consider themselves proponents of free speech they should let her in’
Paul Karp
@Paul_Karp
Thu 30 Aug 2018 05.56 EDT First published on Thu 30 Aug 2018 01.39 EDT
Australian human rights groups have rallied to support Chelsea Manning, deriding the proposal to ban the US whistleblower from entering Australia as a “political stunt” to appease the Trump administration.
The Australian Greens leader Richard Di Natale, Labor equality spokeswoman Louise Pratt and numerous human rights groups lobbied the Morrison government on Thursday, arguing free speech means opponents of government policy should not be barred from entry.
Manning, a former intelligence analyst in the US army who served in the Iraq war, spent seven years in a military prison after being convicted of leaking nearly 750,000 classified military and diplomatic documents to WikiLeaks. Barack Obama commuted her original 35-year-sentence, and she was released in May 2017.
On Wednesday the immigration department issued a notice of intention to consider blocking Manning’s visa under section 501 of the Migration Act, which allows refusal on “character” grounds.
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https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/aug/30/move-to-ban-chelsea-manning-from-australia-a-political-stunt-to-appease-trump