India blocks Kashmiri photojournalist from flying to Paris

NEW DELHI (AP) — A Pulitzer Prize-winning Kashmiri photojournalist said on Saturday that she was stopped by Indian immigration authorities from traveling to Paris without giving a reason.

In a tweet, Sanna Irshad Mattoo said she was due to travel from New Delhi to Paris for a book launch and photography exhibition as one of 10 winners of the Serendipity Arles Grant 2020.

« Despite getting a French visa, I was stopped at the immigration office at Delhi airport, » she said.

She said she was given no reason, but was told by immigration officials that she could not travel overseas.

Indian authorities had no immediate comment.

Mattoo was among the 2022 Pulitzer Prize winners in the Feature Photography category for covering India’s COVID-19 crisis as part of a Reuters team.

She has worked as a freelance photojournalist since 2018, documenting life in Indian-controlled Kashmir, where insurgents are fighting for Kashmir’s independence or its merger with neighboring Pakistan.

Journalists have long braved threats in this restive region as the government seeks more effective control of the press to censor independent reporting. Their situation has worsened since India revoked the region’s semi-autonomy in 2019.

The Associated Press

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