Syria : Al-Jazeera journalist arrested at Damascus airport

Dorothy Parvaz, the Al Jazeera journalist arrested in Syria

Al Jazeera journalist, Dorothy Parvaz, who flew to Damascus from Doha on 29 April 2011, has been arrested at Damascus airport after trying to enter the country to report on the escalating events. She is currently being detained by the Syrian authorities and sources confirm that she is being "well-treated". Alkarama had sent an urgent appeal on 3 May 2011 to the UN Working Group on Enforced and Involuntary Disappearance, in an effort to exert pressure on the Syrian government for her release, however sources later confirmed on 4 May 2011 that Dorothy Parvaz was in Syrian custody.

Nearly 7000 people on Facebook have joined the group Free Dorothy Parvaz - a campaign which will undoubtedly continue to grow as long as she remains in detention.

Parvaz spent her teenage years in North Vancouver and attended the University of British Columbia. She then studied journalism in Arizona and later worked for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer newspaper before taking the job with Al-Jazeera.

Worsening human rights situation

The human rights situation in Syria has seriously degraded in recent weeks, as hundreds of protestors have been killed and thousands arrested since demonstrations began in mid-March 2011. Sources from inside Syria indicate that human rights defenders are being persecuted, while local and international journalists have been arrested and are being held incommunicado.

Khaled Sid Mohand, a French-Algerian journalist, who recently travelled to Syria to report on events there, was arrested and detained for 24 days, before being released yesterday.

The Assad regime continues to suppress the international media in an attempt to cover up the growing number of human rights violations committed by the Syrian authorities. Syrian citizens are calling for democratic reforms in a country, which only last week lifted its longstanding 1963 Emergency Law - a law that previously imposed a ban on public gatherings.

Since protests began on 15 March 2011, media outlets have been prevented from covering the gross human rights violations being committed by the Syrian security forces. The world's media has depended on email reports from Syrian activists and amateur footage being leaked via Youtube. The images have often been graphic and violent depictions of hysteria.

International condemnation

The Syrian government has subsequently come under heavy condemnation from the international community, in recent weeks, over its continued violent aggression against pro-democracy demonstrators.

On 29 April 2011, the UN Human Rights Council issued resolution S-16/1 urging Syria "to immediately put an end to all human rights violations, protect its population, and respect fully all human rights and fundamental freedoms, including freedom of expression and freedom of assembly; further urges the authorities to allow access to the Internet and telecommunications networks and to lift censorship on reporting, including by allowing appropriate access by foreign journalists."