Beijing: Miss World Canada was barred from entering China on Thursday to take part in this year's pageant in the southern island province of Hainan, a friend of the outspoken Chinese-Canadian contestant said.


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Anastasia Lin was prevented from boarding her connecting flight in Hong Kong, Caylan Ford said in an email. She said authorities gave no reason.


Lin is an outspoken critic of Chinese religious policy and a follower of the Falun Gong meditation sect, which was outlawed by China's ruling Communist Party as an "evil cult" in 1999.


Lin was believed to still be in Hong Kong but was not immediately available for comment. In a pre-departure statement she said denying her entry would mean China was trying to prevent her from speaking out about human rights issues.


Lin, who moved to Canada from China when she was 13, told a US 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."


Lin said that after she won the Canadian title, Chinese security agents visited her father who still lives in China in an apparent attempt to intimidate her into silence.


Although she hadn't received an invitation letter from organisers, and therefore was unable to obtain a Chinese visa, she said she decided to travel to China anyway in hopes of obtaining a visa on arrival.


"The Chinese government has barred me from the competition for political reasons. They are trying to punish me for my beliefs and prevent me from speaking out about human rights issues," Lin said in her prepared statement.