Kashmiri photojournalist and Pulitzer Prize winner Sanna Irshad Mattoo said Tuesday she was stopped at the IGI Airport in Delhi from flying to the US to attend the award ceremony.
“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 traveling internationally despite holding a valid US visa and ticket,” tweeted Mattoo.
“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 any response. Being able to attend the award ceremony was a once in a lifetime opportunity for me,” she added.
In June, Mattoo was stopped from travelling to France, where she was supposed to attend a book launch and photography exhibition.
A resident of Srinagar, Mattoo, 28, works as a photojournalist for the international wire agency Reuters. She won the 2022 Pulitzer Prize in feature photography along with three other Reuters photographers for their coverage of the second wave of the coronavirus pandemic in India. (PTI)