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TORONTO (AP) — Canada's Miss World contestant could be barred from next month's pageant in China because of her criticism of Chinese religious persecution.
Actress Anastasia Lin is a vocal supporter of Falun Gong, which China outlawed as an "evil cult" in 1999. Now, Chinese officials have stalled her visa application.
Lin, who moved to Canada when she was 13, told a U.S. congressional hearing in July that tens of thousands of Falun Gong practitioners have been killed so their organs could be harvested and sold for transplants. The 25-year-old actress also plays an imprisoned Falun Gong practitioner in an upcoming Canadian movie, "The Bleeding Edge."
A Foreign Ministry spokesman in Beijing was asked about allegations that China was denying Miss Canada access to Miss World pageant, and declined to comment.
Lin says that if she's allowed to go to China she'll continue to speak out for religious freedom.
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