Bangkok, Thailand
CNN
—
A good looks queen from Myanmar who took safe haven 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 advised CNN.
Han Lay, 23, captured global consideration with an emotional festival speech right through the finals of the Leave out Grand World Myanmar pageant in 2021 when she held up a banner with the phrases “Pray for Myanmar” to boost consciousness of human rights atrocities dedicated via junta officers.
She won loss of life threats after the speech and determined no longer to go back house after the contest – which was once held in Thailand.
Alternatively, she looked as if it would face the specter of deportation after returning to Thailand ultimate Wednesday following a shuttle to Vietnam. She was once stopped via officers at Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi World 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, advised CNN on Wednesday that Han Lay had left Bangkok on Tuesday evening. “Her ultimate vacation spot is Canada,” he mentioned with out giving additional main points.
Han Lay in the past advised CNN that she was once looking for political asylum in Canada in spite of in need of to stay in Thailand.
“Han Lay was once the sufferer of a planned political act via the junta to make her stateless when she flew again to Thailand from Vietnam ultimate week,” mentioned Phil Robertson, Asia deputy director of Human Rights Watch, including that it was once “no longer the primary time” junta officers had “weaponized” Burmese passports.
“There’s no doubt that what transpired was once a entice to take a look at to pressure Han Lay to go back to Myanmar, the place she would have confronted instant arrest, most likely abuse in detention, and imprisonment,” Robertson added.
The location 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 struggle around the nation rages.
Hundreds of thousands proceed to withstand the ruling junta led via Min Aung Hlaing, which has killed masses of pro-democracy protesters and locked up the rustic’s democratically elected chief Aung San Suu Kyi.
