Miss World contestant speaks out on organ harvesting in her native China Reigning Miss Canada Anastasia Lin was blocked last year from travelling to the Chinese resort city of Sanya for the Miss World contest. She insisted the ban was due to her vocal campaign on human rights abuses in her native China, including the harvesting of human organs. (Photo: Getty Images) Cahal Milmo 15:57 Thursday December 15th 2016 When Anastasia Lin sought to compete in last year’s Miss World contest in her native China, her visa to enter the country never arrived. It rapidly became clear that her track record for speaking out on human rights abuses meant she had been barred her from challenging for the winner’s tiara. This year the Chinese-born Miss Canada is being allowed to appear at the British-owned pageant after it moved to Washington DC. But expressing her views on persecution in her native country, including the harvesting of organs from prisoners, has once again proved less straightforward. American media organisations had complained that they were not being granted access to Miss Lin, who is a follower of the Falun Gong spiritual movement that is banned by Beijing as a threat to social stability. “I’m talking about organs being taken from prisoners of conscience, meaning citizens who have not done anything wrong but to speak their mind and believe what they believe in. It’s like innocent citizens being killed for their organs and their body parts sold for profits. It’s happening and people need to pay attention to it.” Miss Canada Anastasia Lin Platform In a stark departure from stereotypes about Miss World contestants blandly aspiring to world peace, the Canadian actor has made it clear she hopes to use her place in the competition, which is massively popular in China, as a platform for her cause and to tell a global audience about forced organ donation. The Associated Press (AP) news agency reported that a chaperone from Miss World, which has Chinese corporate sponsors, told its journalists last week that Miss Lin risked being excluded once more from the pageant if she spoke to the media without permission. Miss World organisers denied that the Canadian representative was subject to any restrictions, including a supposed bar on her attendance at a gala screening this week of a film – The Bleeding Edge – in which she plays a Falun Gong prisoner who falls victim to organ harvesting. Interview With 48 hours to go before this weekend’s final, Miss Lin, 26, has now given an interview about the alleged depravities in the Chinese penal system, while sidestepping questions about whether she had been restricted. Human rights activists claim that thousands of organs have been taken without consent from prisoners held in Chinese jails, many of them prisoners of conscience from the country’s minorities. Earlier this year, the European Parliament called for an investigation in “persistent, credible reports [of] systematic, state-sanctioned organ harvesting” in China. Body parts Miss Lin told AP: “I’m talking about organs being taken from prisoners of conscience, meaning citizens who have not done anything wrong but to speak their mind and believe what they believe in. “It’s like innocent citizens being killed for their organs and their body parts sold for profits. It’s happening and people need to pay attention to it.” The actor, who arrived in Canada with her mother at the age of 13, said the economic influence of China was stopping western governments from confronting the issue. She said: “Everybody is tied economically with China. China’s soft power is so huge that no one really dares to speak up. Governments are not really speaking out, even for their Chinese citizens outside of China.” “No attempt at control” Julia Morley, the London-born widow of Miss World founder Eric Morley who is now the chairwoman of the contest, denied there had been any attempt to control Miss Lin. In a statement to the Hollywood Reporter, the businesswoman said: “Ms Lin has not been blocked from anything. She is a free person do exactly what she wishes to do.” The Chinese government, which banned the Falun Gong as an “evil cult” in 1999, has insisted that the allegations of harvesting organs from political prisoners are “sheer fabrications” by the religious organisation. Executed prisoners Last year, China announced it would end the long-standing practice of taking organs from executed prisoners for transplants, saying it would now only do so if the donor had given consent But international medical professionals express concern that that the practice is still continuing. Meanwhile, Miss Lin has said she intends to make the most of her time in the Miss World spotlight.  She said: “I’m going to stick here to the end because I know that this Miss World final is going to be watched by a billion people around the world, and it’s going to be broadcast in China. I have travelled a long journey to [get] here and I want the people to see me on that show.”

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