/Joshua Trujillo seattlepi.com
An Al Jazeera journalist has not been heard from since last Friday, and is presumed to be held at the Damascus airport. D. Parvaz was a reporter and then later on the editorial board of the Seattle Post Intelligencer. She titled her column Popping Off, and wow! did she. I always looked forward to her sharp, fierce commentary on life in Seattle and in America. After 9/11, she took to wearing a burka and reporting on the reactions she got around town. 5 years later, she wrote about her trip to Iran, revisiting her father's family. Her writing illuminated the region for everyone in Seattle.
I wondered what had become of her after the P.I. folded. I knew she took some fancy fellowship back East. Well, she was named a Nieman Fellow at Harvard and then Cambridge before she joined Al Jazeera in 2010. I've become a real admirer of Al Jazeera's reporting, so it's no surprise to find that is where D. worked. Lately, she had been covering the earthquake in Japan, but had requested the assignment in Syria.
Her family has released this statement:
"She's a very adventurous journalist," Fred Parvaz told seattlepi.com "She really lives the job. ...
"She didn't say anything, because she knew we'd object."
Todd Barker, who is Parvaz's fiance, said he spoke to her by telephone the night before she left for Syria. She didn't express any concerns about traveling there.
"That wasn't Dororthy. There was no trepidation," Barker said.
Barker and Parvaz's family are working through various embassies to find her and secure her release, he said.
Barker and Parvaz's family also released a statement:
"Dorothy Parvaz is a dearly loved daughter, sister and fiancée. We haven't heard from her in four days and believe that she is being held by the Syrian government. Dorothy is a global citizen – she grew up in Iran, UAE, Canada and the United States, where she became a determined journalist.
"She is dedicated to the profession as a force for peace and justice in the world. She has worked at newspapers across the globe, from Japan to Arizona, from Seattle, Wash., to Doha, Qatar, where she now works for Al Jazeera English online. She has always known who she was, whether buying groceries for her grandmother in Tehran or covering the aftermath of the tsunami in Japan. She is tough and she is a fighter – no doubt, she is stronger than us. We need to know where she is. We need to know who is holding her, and that she is comfortable. She is very loved. We need to know that she is safe."
A facebook page has been set up at Free Dorothy Parvaz and you are requested to use #FreeDorothy in tweets. You could send an email or call the Syrian Embassy In Washington, D.C. the number is (202) 232-6316 ext. 139 as1@syrembassy.net
Thanks go to Senator Maria Cantwell (202-224-3441) and Senator Patty Murray (202-224-2834)
for "preparing to file a formal inquiry with the State Department regarding Parvaz's disappearance. Spokesman Matt McAlvanah said the senator is "aware and concerned" about of the situation." Please contact your state authorities as appropriate.
The media has begun reporting on this; NYT, AtlanticWire, the online version of the Seattle P.I., Seattle Times, and The Stranger.
This has just been a punch in the gut to me. Yeah, I heard something or other about journalists and Syria and all... But, it was always be a bit remote. Until I saw the name D. Parvaz.