Search Results for: Parvaz

Dorothy Parvaz is free!

UPDATE (May 20): Dorothy arrived in B.C. yesterday. Here’s a photo captured by the CBC of her hugging her family as she arrived at the airport. In an interview broadcast by Al Jazeera and reported on by The Guardian, Dorothy talks about harsh conditions in the Syrian jail where she was held for three days — in marked contrast to her detention in Iran.

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Dorothy Parvaz, the Al Jazeera journalist who disappeared on April 29, has been freed. She’s in Doha, Qatar, and plans to return home to British Columbia later this week.

Check out the stories posted by Seattle Times and Seattle P-I.

Thanks to all of you who Liked the Free Dorothy page on Facebook, contacted your elected leaders and the embassies, and showed your support in numerous other ways.

For those who have been following this story from the beginning, it’s taken some twists.

If there’s one thing I’ve observed from this episode, it’s this: Journalists will move heaven and earth when their colleagues are in danger and when the principles of press freedom we hold dear are at stake.

Within hours of the news of Dorothy’s disappearance, journalists in Seattle sprang into action. Campaigns on Twitter and Facebook launched. AAJA called for Dorothy’s release on May 3. At that time, Syria was believed to be holding Dorothy since her disappearance in Damascus on April 29.

Journalism colleagues in Seattle, Vancouver, Boston, Doha, D.C. and elsewhere met in coffeeshops, newsrooms and cyberspace to talk about Dorothy and what her disappearance meant to them. Later, we learned that Syria deported Dorothy to Iran on May 1. The Free Dorothy campaign had to switch gears and focus on Iran.

And today, 19 days since she disappeared, Dorothy is back in contact with her family and free! We look forward to seeing her again in Seattle some day soon and hearing her story.

Dorothy Parvaz, former Seattle P-I writer, missing in Syria

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One of our own, Dorothy Parvaz, a former Seattle Post-Intelligencer writer and AAJA Seattle member who joined Al Jazeera in 2010, is missing in Syria.

Some suspect she has been detained by Syrian authorities. This could be a fast-changing situation, so please tweet updates using hashtag #FreeDorothy.

Al Jazeera has demanded her return safely. She left Qatar on Friday for Syria to help cover events taking place there. Al Jazeera reports there has been no contact with the 39-year-old since she disembarked from a Qatar Airways flight in Damascus.

An Al Jazeera spokesman said: “We are concerned for Dorothy’s safety and wellbeing. We are requesting full cooperation from the Syrian authorities to determine how she was processed at the airport and what her current location is. We want her returned to us immediately.”

Read more from Al Jazeera here: http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2011/05/20115211460620208.html

Some of you know Dorothy well, while others may only have read her byline. I pray she is safe and will come back to her colleagues as soon as possible.

I’m in touch with the Committee to Protect Journalists and monitoring this to see how AAJA Seattle might offer constructive support. We will continue to post updates as we receive more information.

On Twitter, some AAJA members already have begun to call on the Syrian government to release Dorothy. Hashtag is #FreeDorothy.

Former colleague Larry Johnson advises:
“She’s been missing since Friday. Everyone should contact the Syrian embassy in Washington, D.C. Calls are best, emails help. We need to do this now!” he wrote to P-I Help Google group.

Marsha Milroy provided contact info:

http://www.syrianembassy.us/

The Embassy Main Line (202) 232-6316 And their press office: as1@syrembassy.net; 202-232-6313 x139

I will be crafting a letter on behalf of AAJA Seattle to the Syrian embassy.

In unity,

Sanjay Bhatt
President, AAJA Seattle
Reporter, The Seattle Times

AAJA Seattle in 2011

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Chapter President’s Report
Dear friends,

Your AAJA Seattle chapter ends 2011 with noteworthy accomplishments, a strong community presence and new leaders.

Just this year, AAJA Seattle played an important leadership role in calling for the release of detained Al Jazeera reporter Dorothy Parvaz, a former AAJA Seattle member. The chapter also hosted a memorable Northwest Journalists of Color scholarship reception emceed by AAJA Seattle VP Owen Lei, with great support from KING TV, Safeco Foundation and The Seattle Times.

Former NJC scholarship recipient Thanh Tan, a multimedia reporter for The Texas Tribune, delivered the keynote speech to this year’s scholarship recipients. If you want to be inspired, watch her outstanding speech:

Our chapter and the Seattle Association of Black Journalists presented a leadership plaque to Seattle Times Publisher Frank Blethen for his consistent support of diversity nationally and locally. And we cut a red velvet cake to mark the 25th anniversary of the NJC scholarship, which has helped more than 100 aspiring journalists of color from Washington state with college expenses.

Chapter VP Owen Lei also brought together our board and other active members for a video shoot at Seattle Center. The video was incorporated in the LA chapter’s AAJA Trivia Bowl video.

The Seattle chapter had an impressive showing at the AAJA National Convention in Detroit. Three of our members – Caroline Li, Sarah Wallace, and Sunny Wu – were awarded Ford Foundation fellowships to attend the conference. The chapter also sponsored University of Washington student Peter Sessum with a Founders scholarship. Whitworth University graduate Kyle Kim joined the team at this year’s VOICES convention newsroom project, which was led by the able Marian Liu (now community manager at Storify.com). Athima Chansanchai represented the Seattle chapter on the convention programming committee co-chair and on the Governing Board as National Secretary.

Former AAJA National President Sharon Chan received the Outstanding Leadership Award from AAJA’s Executive Leadership Program. Yours truly was humbled to receive the Chapter President of the Year award and the Gannett Foundation’s Digital Innovation in Watchdog Journalism award. Seattle Times Publisher Frank Blethen received the AAJA Special Recognition Award. Congratulations to all!

We have some fantastic talent leading the chapter in 2012:

  • President: Sona Patel, social media producer, seattletimes.com (term expires in 2013)
    VP-Programs: Lauren Rabaino, associate web producer, seattletimes.com (term expires in 2013)
    VP-Events: Caroline Li, web entrepreneur (term expires in 2012)
    Treasurer: Mai Hoang, business reporter, The Yakima Herald-Republic (term expires in 2012)
    Secretary: Samantha Pak, reporter, The Redmond Reporter (term expires in 2013)
    National Board Representative: Sanjay Bhatt, business reporter, The Seattle Times (term expires in 2013)

    • The new board already has stepped up to the plate, and it’s not even Jan. 1! Sona Patel helped organize Holiday Scoop 2011, an unaffiliated event, with AAJA members Sharon Chan and Candace Heckman and Online News Association member Tiffany Campbell. The event raised $2,000 for the Northwest Journalists of Color Scholarship!

    The new board has begun planning for our 2012 Lunar New Year Banquet & Silent Auction, which will be held Jan. 28 at Acquabar in Seattle’s Belltown neighborhood.

    You may have noticed that AAJA Seattle’s website has a new look and feel. The site has served mainly as a bulletin board for chapter news and job listings as well as an archive of photos, videos and stories about past chapter events. Thanks to incoming chapter VP Lauren Rabaino, as well as AAJA members Sarah Wallace, Furhana Afrid and Sunny Wu, the site now is integrated with our @aajaseattle Twitter account and designed to offer a better user experience and engagement. If you’d like to contribute stories to the site, please contact Lauren, whose Twitter handle is @laurenrabaino.

    As we close out 2011, you still have a few days to make a tax-deductible donation to AAJA! You can make an online donation to AAJA National’s Power of One campaign or its scholarships. The Seattle chapter also welcomes donations by check to its P.O. Box. The chapter will have a PayPal option in 2012.

    Don’t forget to renew your AAJA membership! I encourage you to renew at the Gold or Platinum level, each of which include perks and special mention on the chapter and national websites. Platinum level membership includes your registration fee for UNITY 2012 in Las Vegas!

    For the past four years, I have been honored to serve the chapter during a period of turbulence for our employers and our occupation. Working together, we finished the campaign to establish a $100,000 endowment for the NJC scholarships, grew membership despite the closure of The Seattle Post-Intelligencer, and increased our reach through workshops, partnerships, field trips and digital media.

    We are blessed in Seattle with a cadre of leaders who have an ethic of giving and paying it forward. I’d like to thank several people who supported me in ways large and small during my term: my fellow board members Nicole Tsong, Mai Hoang, Athima Chansanchai, Venice Buhain, Caroline Li, Owen Lei; AAJA Executive Director Kathy Chow; Karen Johnson of Hacks & Hackers; former AAJA chapter officers Sharon Chan and Lori Matsukawa; and the leadership of The Seattle Times, especially Publisher Frank Blethen, Executive Editor David Boardman and former Executive Editor Mike Fancher.

    Being a journalist today is more challenging and entrepreneurial than ever before. Journalists must sharpen their skills, cultivate their network and have a community to stand behind them. You and your fellow members are AAJA. Together, we are charting a new course for journalism in the 21st century.

    Happy New Year!

    Sanjay Bhatt
    Seattle Chapter President

    Free Dorothy on Friday on Twitter, Facebook

    Free Dorothy banner

    UPDATE: Please download this new Free Dorothy banner, which Wendy Wahman designed and updated to reflect the news that Dorothy was deported from Syria to Iran.

    You can help raise awareness by swapping this image with your Facebook and Twitter profile pic every Friday — marking another week since Dorothy disappeared.

    Please tell your friends and family to do the same. The wider this message spreads, the sooner we’ll find her.

     

    You can also send friends a direct link to this image: http://www.aajaseattle.org/FreeDorothy_Iran.jpg

    Be sure to Like the Free Dorothy Parvaz Facebook page and to follow her on Twitter @FreeDorothy.

    If you’d like to sign a petition calling on the UN to work for Dorothy’s release, check out the Human Rights Petition at http://www.change.org/petitions/find-and-free-dorothy-parvaz-missing-journalist

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    Kristen Young, a friend of Dorothy and former colleague at The Seattle Post-Intelligencer, is spearheading press and public diplomacy efforts in the US to free Dorothy. She wrote the press release below.

    By Kristen Young

    Dorothy Parvaz – a citizen of the U.S., Canada and Iran and a former editorial writer for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer – has been detained since Friday, April 29, when she boarded a plane from Doha, Qatar, to Damascus, Syria, on a reporting assignment for her current employer, Al Jazeera English.

    She hasn’t been heard from since.

    The Syrian government said Dorothy was sent to Iran on May 1 under the control of the Iranian authorities, but we’ve had no word from Iran as to whether that is true. We are unsure of who has her. We continue to hope she is being treated with dignity and respect, especially considering that she is a citizen of Iran.  Most of all, her family and loved ones need to know she is safe.  We believe that Syria maliciously sent Dorothy to Iran and, in so doing, violated international law.

    “We miss her, we haven’t heard from her since April 29, we have no idea where she’s being held and who has her, and we want her home,” Dorothy’s fiancé Todd Barker said. “She’s a journalist who was just trying to do her job.”

    Hundreds of articles, radio and TV segments, and blog posts have focused attention on her detainment. The U.S. State Department is working on freeing Dorothy, but we’d like for her case to remain a focus of diplomatic engagement by the U.S., Canadian and Iranian governments.  On May 2 – the day after Syrian authorities claimed Parvaz was sent to Iran — the Iranian foreign minister said at a news conference that Iran wanted the Syrians to look into the matter. Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi also indicated that he did not know about Syria detaining Parvaz, or about Syria deporting her.

    “I hope that it is not true, but if that is the case, then we demand the government of Syria to look into this,” Salehi said in response to a question on what Iran would undertake to secure Parvaz’s release. We hope that Salehi now focuses his attention on Syria’s claims that Parvaz was sent to Tehran.

    Supporters worldwide have visited and “liked” the Free Dorothy Parvaz Facebook page, which already has more than 12,000 members. Thousands of Twitter messages have demanded her freedom at #FreeDorothy.

    Harvard University’s Nieman FoundationandWolfson College Cambridge, where Dorothy held journalism fellowships, released statements lauding her reporting skills, affirming the rights of journalists and calling for her release.  Venerable news organizations and bloggers from around the world are spotlighting Dorothy’s detention. Al Jazeera English, The Seattle Times, The Globe and Mail, Amnesty International, the Committee to Protect Journalists, the International Press Institute, Reporters Without Borders and many other international organizations first demanded her release from Syrian custody – now, they are pushing for Iran to find her and free her.

    Could you encourage other news sources and relevant institutions to do the same? Can you ask your political representatives to join U.S. Senators Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell and U.S. Representatives Jay Inslee, Jim McDermott and Rick Larsen (D-WA) in supporting the effort to free Dorothy?  Please scroll to the bottom of this message to see relevant embassy and governmental contact information for supporters in the U.S., Canada and the U.K.

    Your participation is crucial.  Her family and loved ones cannot rest until she is known to be safe – and home.

    Dorothy is a global citizen.  She grew up in Iran, the United Arab Emirates and Canada.  She studied at the University of British Columbia and earned her master’s degree in journalism from the University of Arizona before joining the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.  She was awarded fellowships at Harvard and Cambridge before being hired by Al Jazeera English online.

    Dorothy has dedicated her life to telling stories. She views journalism as a force for good.

    Please write to me at k@kristenmyoung.com or call me at 206-795-7771 if you have any questions. Thank you for any action that you contemplate taking. Please keep her in your thoughts.

    With deep gratitude,

    Kristen

     

    U.S. Supporters:

    Please email and call the White House (visit www.whitehouse.gov/contact;202-456-1111) and Sec. of State Hillary Clinton (http://bit.ly/kQO31Z; 202-647-6575)to politely press for Dorothy’s release.

     

    Canadian supporters:

    Please contact the Embassy of Canada to Iran in Tehran
    Dennis Horak
    Chargé d’Affaires

    Tel.: 98 (21) 8152-0000
    Fax: 98 (21) 8873-3200
    Email:teran@international.gc.ca

     

    Canadians can call the Iranian embassy in Ottawa at 613-235-4726 and leave a polite message for Mr. Kambiz Sheikh-Hassani, Chargé d’Affaires, respectfully asking that Dorothy, an U.S., Canadian and Iranian citizen, be found and released.
    245 Metcalfe Street
    Ottawa, Ontario K2P 2K2
    TEL (613) 235-4726
    FAX (613) 232-5712
    e-mail: iranemb@salamiran.org
    web: www.salamiran.org

     

    #FreeDorothy Call the #Iran embassy in Ottawa: 613-235-4726 PLS RT #Canada

     

    @PMHarper Call Iranian ambassador, demand release of journalist Dorothy Parvaz #freedorothy.

    @AndrewSaxton1 Your constituent Fred Parvaz wants Iran to free his daughter. What is ur govt doing? #freedorothy

     

    Irish, English, Scottish supporters:

    Please contact the Iranian Embassy in London consulate@iran-embassy.org.uk or info@iran-embassy.org.ukEmbassy and the Consulate switchboard: 020 7225 3000

     

     

    Free Dorothy on Friday on Facebook, Twitter

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    On Friday, May 6, it will be one week since the Syrian government detained former Seattle Post-Intelligencer reporter and AAJA Seattle member Dorothy Parvaz.

    Download your “Free Dorothy” Facebook profile pic here, swap it out with your personal profile pic, and show solidarity on Friday with her family and friends. If you feel so moved, swap it out with your Twitter pic too!

    If the link above is broken, go to http://aajaseattle.org/FreeDorothy.jpg

    Many thanks to designer Wendy Wahman for producing this quickly, and to Kristen Young who posted it initially Thursday as her Facebook profile picture!

    Be sure to “Like” the Free Dorothy page on Facebook.

    Ever since Al Jazeera first reported that 39-year-old Parvaz was missing after being sent to cover news there, the number of people calling for her release has multiplied day by day. Because she worked at both The Seattle Times and The Seattle Post-Intelligencer and hails from Vancouver, naturally the journalists in the Pacific Northwest began flooding the Syrian embassy’s inbox earlier in the week. The Seattle media have been following her story closely.

    Her story quickly circled the globe. A few:

    – New Zealand

    – Washington, D.C. (NPR, Washington Post)

    – Toronto and Vancouver, Canada

    – London

    – India

    We don’t know how long it’s going to take to bring Dorothy back home, but her supporters are determined to keep up the pressure on our Congressional representatives, the U.S. State Department and the Syrian government. This is not an issue that will be allowed to fade into the background.

    If you’d like to join our campaign, send an email to aajaseattle@gmail.com. Several groups are coalescing around this campaign and will be developing strategies to keep Dorothy’s case in the spotlight.

    Dorothy’s friends, colleagues call on Syria to free her

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    From coast to coast, friends and colleagues of Al Jazeera reporter D. Parvaz are calling on Syria to return her home safely. Dorothy, or “D,” as she was known to her many friends in the Seattle area, has been missing in Syria since last Friday afternoon, according to Al Jazeera, which has demanded her immediate return.

    Today is World Press Freedom Day. It’s time for governments everywhere to release journalists and respect Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Be sure to send a tweet today with #FreeDorothy.

    Here’s a copy of a letter AAJA National President Doris Truong and I sent this morning. Feel free to adapt it to your needs and email your own to as1@syrembassy.net. The more people they hear from the better!

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    Ambassador Imad Moustapha

    Embassy of Syria

    2215 Wyoming Ave N.W.

    Washington D.C. 20008 USA

                                                                                                                          May 3, 2011

    Dear Sir:

    We have learned that one of our friends and colleagues, Dorothy Parvaz, has been missing in Syria since Friday afternoon. Al Jazeera reports that it sent her there to cover news and lost contact with the 39-year-old after she arrived in Damascus on a Qatar Airways flight.

    By now, the Syrian government is well aware that Dorothy’s family, friends and colleagues are concerned for her safety. We are alarmed by the government’s silence on her status, especially at a time when so many journalists in the Middle East are being killed or attacked.

    The disappearance of a journalist should be troubling to all who long for peace. We rely on journalists as honest brokers of information and perspectives. They keep us aware of what is happening on the ground. They are our wise eyes.

    Dorothy wrote for The Seattle Post-Intelligencer, was a member of the Asian American Journalists Association and received fellowships to study at Harvard University and Cambridge University in England.

    Today is World Press Freedom Day. The Syrian government has an opportunity to do the right thing. The Director-General of UNESCO put out a statement worth repeating:

    “Silencing the media or attempting to intimidate them is an unacceptable assault on the right of citizens to be informed. I call on all countries in the world to respect the right to free expression, as laid down in Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and the right to freedom of information.”

    On behalf of the 1,500 members of the Asian American Journalists Association, we respectfully call on your government to release Dorothy Parvaz and allow her to return safely to her family and colleagues. If she is not in custody, we respectfully ask that you cooperate with the U.S. State Department’s request to locate her. We will remain vigilant in monitoring your government’s actions and reporting on her status.

    Sincerely,

    Doris Truong

    National President, Asian American Journalists Association

    aajadoris@yahoo.com

    Sanjay Bhatt

    Seattle chapter president, Asian American Journalists Association

    aajaseattle@gmail.com

    Seattle Post-Intelligencer put up for sale, could be closed

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    The news is still sinking in. After 146 years of publishing the news, the state’s oldest daily could be history.

    Our AAJA Seattle members are directly affected, including Candace Heckman (AAJA National Treasurer), Athima Chansanchai (our chapter’s National Board Rep), Margaret Santjer, Mai Ling Slaughter and D. Parvaz.

    Our hearts go out to them and all the P-I staff. Please send us your ideas for how you think AAJA Seattle should respond.

    Here are quick links to coverage from the P-I, Times, Puget Sound Business Journal, and Crosscut, as well as a video shot by the P-I of the announcement in the stunned newsroom.

    Fri., Jan. 9: P-I, Times, Biz Journal, Crosscut.