Amnesty International Wednesday condemned the Pulitzer Prize-winning Kashmiri photojournalist, Sanna Irshad Mattoo‘s arbitrary travel ban by the immigration authorities at the New Delhi airport in India.
On October 18, Mattoo was barred from “traveling internationally despite holding a valid US visa and ticket” to the US to attend the award ceremony of the prestigious Pulitzer Prize for her coverage of the COVID-19 pandemic. The immigration authorities have not yet provided any reasonable justification for why Mattoo was barred from travel.
Mattoo tweeted that, “this is the second time I have been stopped without reason or cause. Despite reaching out to several officials after what happened a few months ago, I never received any response. Being able to attend the award ceremony was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for me.”
In October 2019, before the abrogation of Article 370 of the Constitution of India, and the dismantling of Jammu and Kashmir into Union terrorizes, Mattoo and other activists, journalists and human rights lawyers were placed on a temporary “No Fly List” without any judicial order.
In March 2022, journalist and writer Rana Ayyub was also detained at the Mumbai Airport and barred from traveling to the UK to deliver a speech at the International Center for Journalists. Delhi High Court allowed Ayyub to travel after she filed an appeal before the court.
Chair of Amnesty International India Aakar Patel, who himself has been stopped twice by Indian authorities and debarred from boarding a flight to the US at Bangalore airport, said:
Arbitrary travel bans have increasingly become the principal tactic of the Indian authorities to silence independent and critical voices in the country. These arbitrary executive actions are not backed by any court order, warrant or even a written explanation, making it difficult for the activists and journalists to challenge these in the courts. This has led to the authorities routinely using travel bans as a preferred tool in the wider crackdown on dissent. This is a blatant violation of human rights and must end now.
