A Yemeni journalist who won an award for her coverage of the war-torn country is now fighting against the U.S. travel ban to attend the awards ceremony in New York.
Afrah Nasser's reporting on Yemen and its treatment of journalists has been featured on multiple international news outlets.
Her work earned her the Committee to Protect Journalists' International Press Freedom Award, but the U.S. Embassy in Sweden rejected her visa application two times. Nasser became a dual citizen of Sweden and Yemen after seeking political refugee status in the European country.
All three of President Trump's travel bans have placed restrictions on individuals traveling from certain Muslim-majority countries like Yemen.
The travel restrictions have stood in the way of an awards ceremony before: Earlier this year, the ban affected Iranian filmmaker Asghar Farhadi.
His film "The Salesman" won an Oscar, but he was not in attendance. A judge halted the ban before the ceremony, but Farhadi did not attend out of protest.
This week's 2017 Courage in Journalism Awards was missing an award winner after the U.S. denied a visa to another Yemeni reporter.
The travel restrictions also impact scientists, engineers and scholars traveling to the U.S. — an effect many in those fields fear will decrease the country's progress.
The Trump administration says the ban is a vital national security measure. It's currently facing a court challenge as unfairly discriminatory.
