Al-Jazeera reporter guilty of 3 wrongs

Iran’s Foreign Ministry Spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast says Iranian-born al-Jazeera English news network correspondent, Homa (Dorothy) Parvaz, has committed three violations.

Speaking at a regular news briefing in the capital Tehran on Tuesday, Mehmanparast said the 39-year-old Parvaz “traveled to Syria with an expired Iranian passport, planned to work there without a press permit, and also had several passports with her. The passports had been US and Canadian,” IRNA reported.

“We [the Islamic Republic of Iran] do not recognize dual citizenship. She was stopped from reporting since she wanted to secretly work [in Syria] irrespective of violations she had committed,” he added.

The senior Iranian official noted that Iran is “following the issue” and that what happens to Parvaz is “important” to the country.

Parvaz was arrested shortly after she arrived in the Syrian capital, Damascus, on April 29 to cover protests in the Middle Eastern country for Doha-based al-Jazeera English news channel.