Stopped From Flying Out of Country to Collect Pulitzer Prize, Says Kashmiri Journalist

New Delhi: Kashmiri journalist Sanna Irshad Mattoo alleged on October 18 that she was stopped from flying out of the country once again while on her way to receive the Pulitzer prize.

This is the second time that Mattoo has been stopped from flying out of India.

“I was on my way to receive the Pulitzer award in New York, but I was stopped at immigration at Delhi airport and barred from travelling internationally despite holding a valid US visa and ticket,” she wrote on Twitter.

In May 2022, Mattoo, a freelance photographer, won the Pulitzer Prize in the Feature Photography category for her work published by Reuters. She shared the award with the Reuters team, including the late Danish Siddiqui, Amit Dave and Adnan Abidi, for their coverage of the COVID-19 crisis in India.

This is the second time I have been stopped without reason or cause. Despite reaching out to several officials after what happened few months ago but I never received ay response.
Being able to attend the award ceremony was a once in a lifetime opportunity for me.

— Sanna Irshad Mattoo (@mattoosanna) October 18, 2022

 

In July, Mattoo had tweeted that that she was stopped while going to Paris for a book launch and photography exhibition as one of 10 winners of the Serendipity Arles grant 2020.

Mattoo had told The Wire then that immigration officials gave no particular reason for stopping her. “All that they shared was that they have information from SSP CID or some such officer of Kashmir to stop me. I asked them if there was anything against me, but they said there was no FIR or any such thing and there were neither any grounds for detention,” Mattoo had said.

Mattoo wrote on October 18 too that she had reached out to several officials after having been stopped in July but was not informed of why she was not allowed to leave.

“Being able to attend the award ceremony was a once in a lifetime opportunity for me,” she wrote on Twitter.

In March this year, an eleventh hour summons directing journalist Rana Ayyub to appear before the Enforcement Directorate on April 1 – the very date she was scheduled to speak at an event in London on online violence against women journalists – led to airport immigration authorities offloading the Mumbai-based journalist from her UK-bound flight. The Delhi high court eventually allowed her to travel to London.

In April, former head of Amnesty International India, writer Aakar Patel, was stopped from leaving the country at the Bengaluru airport citing a lookout circular issued against him by the Central Bureau of Investigation.