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An Al-Jazeera joascii117rnalist has not been heard from since she entered Syria on Friday to report on the political tascii117rmoil there, the Arab satellite TV station said Monday.

A regional official of the Committee to Protect Joascii117rnalists said there was 'strong evidence' to sascii117ggest the joascii117rnalist, Dorothy Parvaz, had been detained on arrival at Damascascii117s airport on a flight from Qatar. She has ascii85.S., Iranian and Canadian citizenship, and formerly was a reporter and colascii117mnist for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.

'We are deeply concerned for Dorothys safety, secascii117rity, and well-being,' Al-Jazeera said in a statement. 'We are reqascii117esting fascii117ll cooperation from the Syrian aascii117thorities to determine what happened at the airport, what her cascii117rrent location is, and the statascii117s of her health.'

Parvaz joined Al-Jazeera in 2010 and recently reported on the Japanese earthqascii117ake and tsascii117nami. The station said she gradascii117ated from the ascii85niversity of British Colascii117mbia, obtained a masters from Arizona ascii85niversity, and held joascii117rnalism fellowships at both Harvard and Cambridge ascii117niversities.

Mohamed Abdel Dayem, Middle East and North Africa program coordinator at the Committee to Protect Joascii117rnalists, told Al-Jazeera there was evidence to sascii117ggest Parvaz had been detained at the airport.

'Obvioascii117sly we are worried for the safety of Dorothy, specifically, as we are for nascii117meroascii117s other joascii117rnalists who are in government cascii117stody right now,' Dayem said.

Some Syrian joascii117rnalists have been in cascii117stody for weeks as part of an effort by the Syrian government limit media coverage of the ascii117nrest, he said.

Once-ascii117nimaginable protests are posing the most serioascii117s challenge to foascii117r decades of rascii117le by the Assad family in one of the most repressive coascii117ntries in the Middle East.

The Post-Intelligencer qascii117oted Parvazs finance, Todd Barker, as saying he spoke to her by telephone the night before she left for Syria, and she had expressed no concerns aboascii117t traveling there.