A beauty queen from Myanmar who took refuge in Thailand after criticizing her home country's military junta has left Bangkok for Canada where she is expected to seek asylum, Thai immigration officials told CNN.com.
Han Lay, 23, captured international attention with her emotional speech during the finals of the Miss Grand International Myanmar competition in 2021, when she held up a banner with the words Pray for Myanmar to raise awareness of human rights atrocities committed by junta officials.
She received death threats after the speech and decided not to return home after the competition held in Thailand.
She returned to Thailand on Wednesday after a trip to Vietnam and appeared to face the threat of deportation. She was stopped by officials at Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi International Airport who said they had discovered a problem with her passport and since she had been in limbo.
Archayon Kraithong, the deputy chief of Thailand's immigration bureau, told CNN on Wednesday that Han Lay had left Bangkok on Tuesday night. He said her final destination is Canada and he wouldn't give any more details.
Han Lay previously told CNN that she was seeking political asylum in Canada despite wanting to remain in Thailand.
Phil Robertson, Asia deputy director of Human Rights Watch, said that Han Lay was a victim of a deliberate political act by the junta to make her stateless when she flew back to Thailand from Vietnam last week.
There was 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, according to Robertson.
Following the military coup in 2021, the situation in Myanmar continues to deteriorate. Human rights violations continue to be rife, rights groups say, and state executions have returned as conflict in the country rages.
Millions of people continue to resist the ruling junta led by Min Aung Hlaing, which has killed hundreds of pro-democracy protesters and locked up the country's democratic leader Aung San Suu Kyi.