“Everything happened so fast, and I only have a few pieces of clothing,” she informed the broadcaster earlier than departing for Canada. But, she mentioned, “I have spoken out for Myanmar wherever I go. Since Canada is a safe place for me, I will have more opportunities to speak out on the issue.”
Han Lay first garnered worldwide consideration final yr when, on the Miss Grand International beauty pageant in Thailand, she used her time on the stage to talk out in opposition to Myanmar’s navy rulers.
At the time, the junta, often known as the Tatmadaw, had simply seized energy and anti-military protests have been raging. The navy and police confronted demonstrators with lethal power. On one notably bloody day, March 27, safety forces killed over 160 protesters.
That identical day, Han Lay was on a stage in Bangkok sporting a conventional white robe as considered one of 20 finalists in the pageant.
“Today in my country, Myanmar, while I am going to be on this stage, there are so many people dying; more than 100 people died today,” she informed the viewers and cameras, wiping away tears. “I am deeply sorry for all the people who have lost their lives.”
“Every citizen of the world wants the prosperity of their country and the peaceful environment,” she added. “In doing so, the leaders involved should not use their power and selfishness.”
The speech put Han Lay in the highlight and likewise drew condemnation and threats on social media, she mentioned. After the pageant, she stayed in Thailand to keep away from potential arrest in her house nation, the place hundreds have been injured or killed because the navy takeover. Thousands more are in prison, and in July the navy junta executed four pro-democracy activists, together with two of the resistance’s most distinguished leaders.
But on Sept. 21, after a quick journey to Vietnam, Han Lay was denied entry at Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi Airport. Thai officers mentioned her Myanmar-issued journey paperwork have been invalid, Reuters reported. She wrote on Facebook the following day that Myanmar police officers have been additionally on the airport and had tried to achieve out to her.
“I will refuse to meet with the Myanmar police by using my human right,” she wrote, including that she had requested assist from Thai authorities and the United Nations.
According to Human Rights Watch, the transfer was “a deliberate political act by the junta to make her stateless.”
“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,” the group’s deputy Asia director, Phil Robertson, mentioned in an announcement Wednesday.
He mentioned that governments needs to be “on guard” in opposition to makes an attempt by Myanmar’s navy junta to make use of “similar tactics against overseas dissidents traveling on Myanmar passports in the future.”
“This is hardly the first time repressive Burmese military dictatorships have sought to use their control over Myanmar passports as a weapon against their own people’s rights to travel internationally,” Robertson mentioned.