Dorothy Parvaz’s family and employer have none news since her plane took off from Doha to Damascus last Friday. The journalist of the Al Jazeera English website had just returned from Japan where she covered the recent earthquake.
Dorothy Parvaz, American-Canadian of Iranian origin, was reportedly arrested at the airport when he arrived in Syria. Ali Akbar Salehi, Iranian Minister of Foreign Affairs, therefore spoke about the case of his compatriot: “We demand that the Syrian government are looking at this case”.
Faced with the silence of the Syrian government, Al Jazeera as well as the media from around the world is currently working to request information.
Since the start of protests against the government of Bashar Al Assad, the media have not been welcome on Syrian soil. Syrian journalists have been arrested for weeks. Today, May 3, is World Press Freedom Day.
The information goes around the canvas and spreads at very high speed, especially with the Facebook page “Free Dorothy Parvaz” and the hashtag #Freedorothy on Twitter. The name has already entered Wikipedia.