Concern is growing for a B.C. journalist whose loved ones believe is being held hostage by the Syrian government.
Dorothy Parvaz, who graduated from the University of British Columbia before getting her masters degree from the University of Arizona, was heading to an assignment in Damascus for the news agency Al Jazeera Friday when she disappeared.
An airline manifest shows that the journalist arrived at the Damascus airport, but she never checked into her hotel and her family believes she is being held at the airport.
Her 39-year-old's fiance, Todd Barker, said he and her family have heard nothing about her whereabouts.
"I just want to know that she's safe and that she's comfortable," he told CTV News from Portland Tuesday.
"It's just the not knowing anything and not getting any information from the Syrian government that's just the motivation for keep finding out more."
Parvaz, who joined Al Jazeera in 2010, was reporting on the unrest in Syria. She recently spent time in Japan covering the earthquake and tsunami.
Family and friends are using Facebook and Twitter to spread the word about her disappearance and appeal to anyone with information.
The Parvaz family is asking people to write letters and put any kind of pressure they can on the Syrian government to release information about what happened to Dorothy. Al Jazeera has also been demanding information. There are reports that other journalists are being detained in the country.
Vancouver teacher Sheelagh Brothers said her friend was always passionately committed to her job.
"She's a really caring person and she's just really a good person and so passionate about news and reporting and getting a story out," she said.
Parvaz holds Canadian, American and Iranian citizenship.
The National Organization for Human Rights in Syria said Tuesday that authorities have arrested more than 1,000 people since Saturday to stop an uprising against President Bashar Assad.
With a report from CTV British Columbia's Maria Weisgarber
