BBG Marks Six Months in Search for Missing Journalist

Calls for any info on Alhurra correspondent Bashar Fahmi

By John Eggerton -- Broadcasting & Cable, 2/19/2013 5:47:39 PM

Feb. 20 will mark six months since Alhurra correspondent Bashar Fahmi went missing in Syria.

The Broadcasting Board of Governors, which oversees Alhurra, is marking the date with a renewed call for his release or information on his whereabouts.

Fahmi was reporting from Aleppo along with cameraman Cuneyt Unal when both went missing Aug. 20 after a firefight in which Japan Press' Mika Yamamoto was killed. Unal was captured and later released, but Fahmi remains missing.

"Bashar is a courageous journalist," said Brian Conniff, president of the BBG's Middle East Broadcasting Networks. "His tenacity drives him to follow any story and report back to millions of viewers across the Arab world. It is that dedication that brought him to Syria. If he is being held, we demand his immediate release. And we call on anyone that has information about Bashar's whereabouts to please come forward."