Kashmiri journalist blocked from leaving India to receive Pulitzer Prize in New York

It is the second time Sanna Irshad Mattoo says she has been barred from travelling outside India

Sanna Irshad Mattoo says she was stopped at Delhi airport (Sanna Irshad Mattoo / Instagram)

A Pulitzer prize-winning journalist says she has been barred from leaving India to fly to New York to receive the prestigious award.

Sanna Irshad Mattoo, a multimedia journalist with Reuters, issued a statement on social media on Tuesday evening in which she said she was on the way to receive the Pulitzer Prize, but was “stopped at immigration at Delhi airport and barred from travelling internationally despite holding a valid US visa and ticket”.

The 28-year-old journalist from Kashmir was given the Pulitzer for her work during the Covid pandemic, which drew wide recognition and several accolades.