Kashmiri Journalist Aakash Hassan Stopped From Boarding Flight to Sri Lanka

Hassan, who had been going to Colombo to report from there, said that he was not told why he was denied permission.

Kashmiri journalist Aakash Hassan was stopped at the Delhi airport from boarding a flight to crisis-ridden Sri Lanka on Tuesday, 25 July.

(Photo Courtesy: Twitter/Aakash Hassan)

Kashmiri journalist Aakash Hassan has said that he was stopped at the Delhi airport from boarding a flight to crisis-ridden Sri Lanka on Tuesday, 25 July.

In a series of tweets, Hassan alleged that he had been halted by immigration officials while he was going to Colombo to report on the situation from the ground. The journalist said that he was not provided with a reason for why he was denied permission to travel.

Immigration officials stamped his boarding pass and passport with “Cancelled Without Prejudice,” showed photos shared by the journalist, who writes for The Guardian.

"Immigration officials at IGI airport New Delhi barred me from boarding a flight to Colombo, Sri Lanka. I was headed to report on the current crises in the country. The immigration officials took my passport, boarding pass and have made me sit in a room for last four hours," Hassan said in a tweet on Tuesday night.

"The officials are not giving any me any reason for why I am not allowed. A staff from the airlines I was travelling in told me that officials have directed them to offload my luggage from the aircraft. I was questioned by two officials about my background, travel purpose," he wrote in the thread on Twitter.

"After making me wait for five hours, without providing even water to drink. I have been handed over my passport and boarding pass with a red rejection stamp: “Cancelled Without Prejudice,”" the journalist shared.

Meanwhile, earlier on Tuesday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had congratulated Sri Lanka's newly elected President Ranil Wickremesinghe and had said that India will continue to be supportive of the quest of the people of the island nation for stability and economic recovery, through established democratic means.

The prime minister also had conveyed that he looked forward to working closely with the Sri Lankan president for strengthening the age-old, close and friendly relations between India and Sri Lanka, as per the Indian High Commission in Colombo.