December 28, 2009

Source: Agence France Presse (AFP)

DUBAI — Dubai TV expects a reply from Tehran authorities on Monday regarding the whereabouts of its missing Iran-based reporter Reza al-Basha, the channel’s assignment desk manager Rola Sayegh told AFP.

“We still do not have any answers but we are expecting an answer from the Iranian authorities” later Monday, Sayegh said.

“We’re just communicating with the office in Tehran… and they’re talking to the Iranian authorities,” she added.

Reza al-Basha, a 27-year-old Syrian, has been working for Dubai TV in Iran for a year.

A colleague told AFP in Tehran that the Foreign Press Bureau had confirmed Basha had been arrested during opposition protests on Sunday.

A statement from Dubai Media Incorporated, which owns Dubai TV, said the company had “lost contact with the correspondent.”

Opponents of hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinjad’s controversial June re-election clashed with security forces as they used the Shiite holy day of Ashura to mount fresh protests against the government.

At least eight people died and more than 300 were arrested, police said.

In June, shortly after post-vote protests broke out in Iran, the Foreign Press Bureau banned journalists working for foreign media from covering opposition demonstrations.