Sanna Irshad Mattoo tells Al Jazeera she was stopped from going to Paris to attend a e-book launch and pictures exhibition.
A Pulitzer Prize-winning photojournalist from Indian-administered Kashmir says she has been barred from travelling overseas by the Indian authorities who supplied no legitimate causes for his or her refusal.
Sanna Irshad Mattoo advised Al Jazeera she was scheduled to journey to Paris from New Delhi on Saturday for a e-book launch and pictures exhibition as one of many 10 winners of the Serendipity Arles Grant 2020.
Mattoo, a resident of Srinagar, received the Pulitzer together with three different members of the Reuters information company for his or her pictures on the COVID-19 disaster in India.
“My flight was scheduled on Saturday afternoon. On the immigration, I used to be put apart and advised to attend for 3 hours. I saved on asking the officers in regards to the causes till I missed the flight,” the 28-year-old journalist mentioned.
Mattoo mentioned she was later advised she can not fly overseas. “However they supplied no clarification,” she mentioned.
“That is insane, there's nothing towards me. One of many officers advised me I ought to examine the explanation from Kashmir from the place instructions had come. I don’t perceive why I used to be stopped,” Sana advised Al Jazeera by phone from New Delhi airport.
“I'm very disheartened. I used to be wanting ahead to this chance for a very long time.”
Mattoo shared pictures of her tickets and passport stamped with “Cancelled with out prejudice” by the Indian immigration officers on Twitter.
I used to be scheduled to journey from Delhi to Paris in the present day for a e-book launch and pictures exhibition as one in all 10 award winners of the Serendipity Arles grant 2020. Regardless of procuring a French visa, I used to be stopped on the immigration desk at Delhi airport. (1/2) pic.twitter.com/OoEdBBWNw6
— Sanna Irshad Mattoo (@mattoosanna) July 2, 2022
Journalists and media watchdogs have criticised the transfer, calling it a “disturbing sample”.
The Committee to Defend Journalists (CPJ) mentioned the Indian authorities “should instantly finish its apply of barring Kashmiri journalists from international journey”.
“The journey bans are a part of a scientific sample of harassment towards Kashmiri journalists, who've more and more confronted arbitrary arrest, frivolous authorized circumstances, threats, bodily assaults, and raids since August 2019,” it tweeted.
Lately, a variety of Indian journalists and activists have alleged they have been stopped from travelling overseas by the Indian authorities.
In April this 12 months, Aakar Patel, the previous head of Amnesty Worldwide in India, mentioned he was stopped from flying to the USA due to a prison case filed towards the rights physique’s India workplace in 2019.
The authorities mentioned Patel was on the Central Bureau of Investigation’s “lookout round”, which prevents an individual needed by legislation enforcement companies from flying overseas.
Days earlier, outstanding Indian journalist Rana Ayyub was additionally barred from boarding her flight to London the place she was scheduled to deal with an occasion on the concentrating on of journalists in India. She was later allowed to fly after she approached a courtroom of legislation.
Each Patel and Ayyub are vocal critics of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist authorities.
In 2019, Kashmiri journalist Gowhar Geelani alleged he was stopped at New Delhi airport from travelling to Europe.
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