India: Kashmiri Journalist Stopped From Flying Out of Country to Collect Pulitzer Prize

Source: https://thewire.in/media/kashmir-journalist-sanna-irshad-mattoo-stopped-pulitzer

’Petty, Highly Discriminatory’: Pulitzer Co-Chair on Sanna Irshad Mattoo’s Exclusion From Event

’This repression is in line with a crackdown by Indian authorities on journalists and civil society in Kashmir,’ the Human Rights Watch has said.

Sanna Irshad Mattoo. In the background are an image from the Pulitzer Prize function and a photo tweeted by Mattoo showing her passport, invite and ticket. Photos: Twitter/@mattoosanna, @PulitzerPrizes and @hrw.

The Wire Staff

21 oct 22

New Delhi: The co-chair of the 2022 cycle of the Pulitzer Prizes John Daniszewski noted in his speech at the award ceremony at New York on October 20 that Kashmiri award-winner Sanna Irshad Mattoo’s exclusion from the event was “highly discriminatory”.

The photo journalist has alleged that she was stopped from travelling out of the country to collect her Pulitzer prize at New Delhi’s IGI Airport on October 18 in spite of having a visa and a ticket. This is the second time Mattoo has been stopped thus. Earlier this year, she was stopped from travelling to France to accept a grant she had received.

Global and national rights and journalists’ bodies including the Human Rights Watch, the Committee to Protect Journalists and the Press Club of India have severely condemned the move to stop Mattoo from travelling outside India. Most have shed light on the particular treatment meted out to journalists from Kashmir. The US State Department said in an answer to reporters’ questions that it was “aware of reports” of Mattoo having been stopped.

Daniszewski’s comments on Mattoo’s absence on Pulitzer night was tweeted by the official handle of the prizes.

“This is petty, highly discriminatory […] and emblematic of the challenges journalists face around the world,” he said, according to the tweet.

The prize awarded to Mattoo was one she won as part of the Reuters team, for its coverage of India’s struggle with COVID-19. Amit Dave, Adnan Abidi and the late Danish Siddiqui are in the team. Siddiqui’s two children accepted the award on his behalf.

Daniszewski had separately retweeted Mattoo’s original tweet noting that she had been stopped at the airport from his personal handle.

“Authorities have given no official explanation for why Mattoo has been barred from traveling abroad – but this repression is in line with a crackdown by Indian authorities on journalists and civil society in Kashmir,” the Human Rights Watch has noted.

The HRW has also tweeted that since August 2019, “at least 35 journalists in Kashmir have faced police interrogation, raids, threats, physical assault, restrictions on freedom of movement, or fabricated criminal cases for their reporting.”

In 2022, India ranked 150^th out of 180 countries in the Press Freedom Index published by Reporters Without Borders. This is the India’s lowest ever rank on this index.

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Source: https://thewire.in/rights/sanna-irshad-mattoo-kashmir-journalist-immigration-stopped

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

19 oct 22

The Wire staff

This is the second time that Sanna Irshad Mattoo has alleged that she was stopped from flying abroad. She was earlier stopped in July and has said that authorities did not inform her why.

Sanna Irshad Mattoo. Photo: Facebook/Sanna Irshad Mattoo

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.

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.

In September 2019, soon after the Union government read down Article 370, journalist-author Gowhar Geelani was stopped from travelling to Bonn at the Indira Gandhi International Airport in New Delhi.

In 2022, India ranked 150^th out of 180 countries in the Press Freedom Index published by Reporters Without Borders. This is the country’s lowest rank.

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Source: https://thewire.in/rights/sanna-irshad-mattoo-travel-pulitzer-usa-cpj

Global Body Condemns Move to Stop Scribe From Leaving India; ’Aware of Reports’ Says US State Dept

’There is no reason why Kashmiri journalist Sanna Irshad Mattoo, who had all the right travel documents and has won a Pulitzer...should have been prevented from traveling abroad.’

Sanna Irshad Mattoo. Photo: Facebook/Sanna Irshad Mattoo

The Wire Staff

20/Oct/2022

New Delhi: The United States is aware of reports of Pulitzer-winning Kashmiri journalist Sanna Irshad Mattoo allegedly being prevented from travelling to the country, a State Department official said, according to the news agency PTI. The Committee to Protect Journalists, which promotes press freedom worldwide, has condemned the move as well.

Mattoo had alleged on October 18 that she was stopped from flying out of the country at the IGI Airport in New Delhi while on her way to receive the Pulitzer prize. This is the second time that Mattoo has been stopped from flying out of India.

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,” Mattoo had said, adding that she did not know then if there were FIRs pending against her or any other action being taken.

‘Press freedom’

“We are aware of the reports of Ms Mattoo being prevented from travelling to the US and are tracking these developments closely,” State Department Deputy Spokesperson Vedant Patel told reporters at his daily news conference.

“We are committed to supporting press freedom. And as the secretary has noted, a shared commitment to democratic values, including the respect for the independence of the press, is a bedrock of the US-India relationship,” he said.

“But I don’t have any other specifics to offer we are tracking this closely,” Patel said in response to a question.

Mattoo, a freelance photojournalist, was part of a Reuters team that won the Pulitzer Prize for feature photography for their coverage of the COVID-19 pandemic in India.

CPJ says ‘there is no reason’ Mattoo should be stopped

In a statement, the Committee to Protect Journalists urged Indian officials to let Mattoo travel to the US to attend the Pulitzer awards ceremony.

“There is no reason why Kashmiri journalist Sanna Irshad Mattoo, who had all the right travel documents and has won a Pulitzer–one of the most prestigious journalism awards–should have been prevented from traveling abroad,” said Beh Lih Yi, CPJ’s Asia program coordinator.

“This decision is arbitrary and excessive. Indian authorities must immediately cease all forms of harassment and intimidation against journalists covering the situation in Kashmir,” Beh said.

The press release noted that since August 2019, when the Indian government revoked Jammu and Kashmir’s special autonomy status, Kashmiri journalists have told CPJ that they are being barred from travelling abroad.

In 2022, India ranked 150^th out of 180 countries in the Press Freedom Index published by Reporters Without Borders. This is the India’s lowest ever rank on this index.

‘The government should come clean on this matter,’ says PCI

Expressing concern on this matter, the Press Club of India wrote on Twitter saying, “The Press Club of India fails to comprehend the Government decision to stop Pulitzer prize winning Kashmiri journalist Sanah Mattoo to travel to the US to receive the prize. The government should come out clean on this matter.”

It added, “On the one hand, the Government is making all efforts to integrate Kashmir with the national mainstream, on the other such actions will only act as deterrents and further act in alienating people from Kashmir.”

(With PTI inputs)