Special to WorldTribune.com

A Canadian beauty queen lashed out at Beijing on Friday, saying she was barred from boarding a flight from Hong Kong to China to compete in a pageant because of her human rights activism.

Chinese-born Anastasia Lin, a 25-year-old actress crowned Miss World Canada in May, said that China was blocking her from travelling to the seaside resort city of Sanya for the Miss World contest.

Lin, who told AFP late Thursday that Chinese authorities were suppressing people who “dare to speak their minds”, was speaking from Hong Kong’s international airport where she was blocked from taking a flight bound for mainland China.

“I believe the Chinese government is angry at me because my work brings attention to these (human rights) issues,” Lin said at a press conference on Friday morning.

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  China bars Miss Canada from Miss World pageant over rights stand, LIFE, WorldTribune.com