Detained Female Journalists Released From Libya And Iran

Good news: Libya has released four detained journalists, including Clare Morgana Gillis, and Al Jazeera’s Dorothy Parvaz, who disappeared in Syria, is on her way home.

Gillis, a freelancer for The Atlantic and USA Today, has been in Libyan custody since April 5. Also detained and released with her were James Foley of GlobalPost and Spanish photojournalist Manu Brabo. They were convicted of “illegal entry” into Libya and fined a small amount. On April 22, Gillis was allowed to call home and say she was safe.

Meanwhile, Dorothy Parvaz hadn’t been heard from since arriving in Damascus on April 29 to cover uprisings there. According to the Vancouver Sun, “She holds U.S., Canadian and Iranian passports. Syrian authorities said they deported her to Iran because her passport was expired, but Iran initially denied any knowledge of her whereabouts and later claimed she had committed ‘violations.'” Wonder why they picked Iran out of her three citizenships? (Iran doesn’t recognize multiple citizenships.) Thankfully, Parvaz was not harmed, but she described her experience as follows:

I was in the Syrian detention centre for three days and what I heard were just savage beatings. I didn’t know what these men had done, one agent said that two of them were responsible for murders in or near Deraa…I was handcuffed repeatedly, blindfolded, taken to a courtyard and just left to hear these men being beaten.They all sounded very young, they all sounded to be in their late teens or early twenties. So it was an overall terrifying experience.”

Her fiance spoke to a Fox affiliate, seen above.

Freed North Vancouver Journalist Dorothy Parvaz Should Be Back In BC Soon [Vancouver Sun]
Libya Releases Detained Journalists [WSJ]