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North Vancouver journalist describes her detention in Syria, Iran

North Vancouver journalist Dorothy Parvaz, safely back in Doha, Qatar, has given an interview on Al Jazeera about her 19-day experience in detention -- first in Syria, then in Iran.

Parvaz described being taken into a courtyard in a Syrian jail, handcuffed and blindfolded, where she listened to young men being beaten. She said it was an attempt to frighten her, and she heard many other beatings while imprisoned. But as far as she could tell, women were not being beaten, she said. Many of the prisoners, she said, seemed to be young people arbitrarily pulled off the street by security forces.

She said she had no idea of how her disappearance was being covered until she was transferred to Iran, where she said she received reasonable treatment.

Parvaz said she was planning to return to Vancouver soon to see her family.

Crawford Kilian is a contributing editor of The Tyee.

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