WASHINGTON — For three weeks, Canadian beauty queen Anastasia Lin was allowed to smile at the Miss World pageant in Washington, but not permitted to discuss human rights abuses in China. <br /> <br />However, on Wednesday night pageant organizers finally gave Lin the okay to speak to news media, the New York Times reported. <br /> <br />According to her friends and relatives, event organizers had warned Lin that if she spoke publicly about China’s government-backed organ harvesting industry she would be barred from the competition. <br /> <br /> <br />The London-based pageant is largely sponsored by Chinese companies hence the warning. <br /> <br />But after the media started shedding light on the harassment, China finally backed off. <br /> <br />Lin was blocked from attending last year’s Miss World pageant in China because she criticized Beijing about abuses against Falun Gong members.
