Bangkok, Thailand
CNN
—
A good looks queen from Myanmar who took shelter in Thailand after criticizing her house nation’s ruling army junta has left Bangkok for Canada the place she is anticipated to hunt asylum, Thai immigration officers instructed CNN.
Han Lay, 23, captured world consideration with an emotional competition speech all through the finals of the Miss Grand International Myanmar pageant in 2021 when she held up a banner with the phrases “Pray for Myanmar” to boost consciousness of human rights atrocities dedicated by means of junta officers.
She won dying threats after the speech and determined no longer to go back house after the contest – which used to be held in Thailand.
However, she gave the impression to face the specter of deportation after returning to Thailand final Wednesday following a travel to Vietnam. She used to be stopped by means of officers at Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi International Airport who mentioned they’d came upon an issue together with her passport and because then she have been in limbo.
Archayon Kraithong, deputy leader of Thailand’s immigration bureau, instructed CNN on Wednesday that Han Lay had left Bangkok on Tuesday night time. “Her final destination is Canada,” he mentioned with out giving additional main points.
Han Lay up to now instructed CNN that she used to be in the hunt for political asylum in Canada in spite of in need of to stay in Thailand.
“Han Lay was the victim of a deliberate political act by the junta to make her stateless when she flew back to Thailand from Vietnam last week,” mentioned Phil Robertson, Asia deputy director of Human Rights Watch, including that it used to be “not the first time” junta officers had “weaponized” Burmese passports.
“There is no doubt that what transpired was a trap to try to force Han Lay to return to Myanmar, where she would have faced immediate arrest, likely abuse in detention, and imprisonment,” Robertson added.
The scenario in Myanmar continues to go to pot following the 2021 army coup. Human rights violations stay rife, rights teams say and state executions have returned as war around the nation rages.
Millions proceed to withstand the ruling junta led by means of Min Aung Hlaing, which has killed masses of pro-democracy protesters and locked up the rustic’s democratically elected chief Aung San Suu Kyi.
