WASHINGTON — For three weeks, Canadian beauty queen Anastasia Lin was allowed to smile at the Miss World pageant in Washington, but not permitted to discuss human rights abuses in China.

However, on Wednesday night pageant organizers finally gave Lin the okay to speak to news media, the New York Times reported.

According to her friends and relatives, event organizers had warned Lin that if she spoke publicly about China’s government-backed organ harvesting industry she would be barred from the competition.


The London-based pageant is largely sponsored by Chinese companies hence the warning.

But after the media started shedding light on the harassment, China finally backed off.

Lin was blocked from attending last year’s Miss World pageant in China because she criticized Beijing about abuses against Falun Gong members.