From Michael Hood’s Blatherwatch
Former Seattle journalist, and friend of BlatherWatch, Dorothy Parvaz is missing in the troubled state of Syria.
Parvaz, 39, who works for Al Jazeera, has been missing since Friday, the day she arrived in Damascus to cover the unrest in the country. Officials say she was probably detained at the airport.
Sen. Patty Murray has made a formal inquiry to the State Department asking for help in locating Parvaz.
Dorothy (who writes as D. Parvaz‘) was an editorialist, and feature writer for the late Seattle Post-Intelligencer before joining Al Jazeera in 2010. She was a regular panelist on KUOW’s Weekday with Steve Scher.
The LA Times:
Mohamed Abdel Dayem, Middle East and North Africa Program Coordinator at the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), told Al Jazeera there was “strong evidence” to suggest Parvaz had been detained at Damascus airport.
“Obviously we are worried for the safety of Dorothy, specifically, as we are for numerous other journalists who are in government custody right now,” said Dayem.
He said up to a couple of dozen journalists had been detained in Syria since the current unrest began in mid-March with the number held fluctuating on a daily basis “between a handful and a dozen”.
Some Syrian journalists working for Syrian and regional outlets had been in custody for weeks, he said.
“Dorothy’s detention is really just the latest episode in an effort by the Syrian government to institute a media blackout,” said Dayem.
Parvaz brought fame and honor to Seattle and the old Pee Eye when she tweeked Billo Reilly, and kicked Sean Hannity’s ass in appearance on his Fox News show. They had taken great umbrage (the way they do) at some innocuous thing she wrote in 2007. Billo even sent one of his goons to ambush P-I publisher Roger Oglesby in his Capital Hill driveway.
Parvaz got Seattle’s attention early in her career by venturing out on the streets of the city less than a month after 9-11 wearing an Islamic hijaab– the full-body outer robe for women. It was a compelling story replete with a guy at Broadway & Pike who shoved her in front of a car nearly striking her.
Joe Copeland, a former P-I editorial writer and columnist who now works at Crosscut, also is a friend of Parvaz’s.
“She’s bold and fearless and knows how to handle herself in a tough situation,” Copeland said. “She’s as determined a reporter as anyone I’ve known. She wanted to be on the front lines.”