STOCKHOLM (dpa-AFX) - Yemeni journalist Afrah Nasser, who won the International Press Freedom Award, has been banned from entering the US to receive her accolade, according to the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ).
Afrah is one of five internationally acclaimed journalists that CPJ has selected this year to honor courageous journalists from around the world.
The award ceremony is scheduled to be held on November 15 in New York City, but the exiled Yemeni blogger's request for visa has been turned down.
Yemen is one of many Muslim-majority countries whose citizens have been barred by the Trump administration from entering the United States.
Afrah, who is a Swedish and Yemeni dual national, is currently residing in Sweden's capital Stockholm.
She said her two US visa applications have been rejected by the American embassy in Stockholm. 'I am currently applying for the third time, and I am not optimistic,' she wrote on her blog.
The CPJ explained that from the Arab region, they had chosen Yemen this year in order to shine a light on the conditions in which Yemeni journalists work, and Afrah for her reporting on 'human rights violations, women's issues, and press freedom in her home country' despite all the obstacles.
In addition to an invitation to the awards ceremony in New York, the CPJ had also organized for Afrah to meet with State Department officials in Washington DC, and university staff to raise awareness about violations against Yemeni journalists and the humanitarian crisis in the war-torn country.
As the violence escalated in her hometown, Sanaa, and under death threats for her anti-regime writings during the beginning of Yemen's 2011 uprising, Afrah sought political asylum in Sweden in May 2011. She later became a Swedish citizen.
Afrah Nasser is the founder and editor-in-chief of Sana'a Review. After reaching Stockholm, she continued freelance reporting on Yemen for various media outlets.
Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX