Detained reporter may now be in Iran

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates – Syrian officials say their government has sent an Iranian-born Al-Jazeera correspondent, who also has American and Canadian citizenship, to Tehran following her detention last month in Damascus.

Al-Jazeera said Wednesday that Syrian officials had informed the network of the whereabouts of Dorothy Parvaz, 39.

She was last seen leaving the Qatari capital of Doha on April 29 for Syria to report on the uprising there. On May 4, Al-Jazeera said Syrian authorities confirmed she was detained. A week later, Syria said she had not been in the country since May 1, without explaining where she had gone.

There was no immediate comment from officials in Iran, but the apparent jailing of Parvaz highlights the increasing pressures and clampdowns against journalists trying to covering the uprisings against the autocratic regime of President Bashar Assad in Syria and others across the region.

Parvaz, who joined Al-Jazeera in 2010, previously worked as a reporter and columnist for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.