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Chelsea Manning Barred From Entering Australia for Speaking Tour

Human-rights groups say it’s a “stunt” to appease Trump.

Whistleblower Chelsea Manning has been blocked from entering Australia for a speaking tour, and human-rights groups in the country are condemning the move as a “stunt” designed to please President Trump. Manning’s event organizer, Think Inc., said it’s received a notice of intention from the Australian government to deny Manning entry. The group is calling on her supporters to lobby Immigration Minister David Coleman to allow her into Australia—but the Associated Press reports that such efforts haven’t been successful in the past. Tim Singleton Norton, the chairman of Australian activist group Digital Rights Watch, told The Guardian the move to ban Manning was “nothing more than a political stunt designed to appease the current U.S. administration, and an unnecessary imposition on the movements of a world-renowned civil-rights activist.”