"Please Help" Miss Myanmar Who Criticized the Military Flees to Canada to Avoid Punishment

Seeking Asylum Through UNHCR While Detained at Airport

2020 Miss Myanmar Han Lay. [Image source=Reuters Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Hyun-joo] Miss Myanmar, who shed tears last March on the international beauty pageant stage while criticizing the coup military, has escaped the risk of being repatriated to her home country. After being denied entry in Thailand and staying for a week at Bangkok Suvarnabhumi Airport, she was granted asylum in Canada with refugee status.

According to the Bangkok Post and others on the 27th (local time), Miss Myanmar Han Lay was granted asylum in Canada with refugee status. She is scheduled to leave Thailand that night using Korean Air and will transfer at Incheon International Airport to go to Toronto.

Han Lay, Miss Myanmar 2020, appealed on the final stage of the Miss Grand International pageant held in Bangkok last March, saying, "More than 100 people died in Myanmar today," and "Please help Myanmar." In February of the same year, the Myanmar military staged a coup, claiming that the November 2020 general election, in which the National League for Democracy (NLD) led by State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi won by a landslide, was fraudulent, and took power.

Since then, Han Lay has stayed in Thailand without returning to Myanmar due to safety concerns. Recently, while visiting Vietnam to renew her visa and returning, she was denied entry on the 21st and became stranded at the airport.

Facing the risk of forced deportation to Myanmar, she has been pursuing asylum through the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) while detained at the airport. If repatriated to Myanmar, it would be difficult for her to avoid punishment. The Myanmar military is known to have publicly charged Han Lay, who criticized the military government, with treason and issued an arrest warrant.