Venezuela Detains Al Jazeera Crew at Airport, Plans Deportation

Members of the Al Jazeera crew were detained at Maiquetia international airport outside Caracas, the captail of Venezuela, and the authorities plan deport them from the country on a first flight to Bogota, according to a local journalists union.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Venezuelan authorities detained a TV crew from the broadcaster Al Jazeera at Maiquetia international airport outside Caracas and plan to expel them, a local journalists union said Tuesday.

"Members of the Al Jazeera crew were detained in Maiquetia. The authorities want to deport them from the country on a first flight to Bogota," the National Union of Press Workers (SNTP) posted in its official Twitter account.

#ALERTA miembros del equipo reporteril de @AlJazeera son retenidos en Maiquetía. Autoridades quieren deportarlos en el primer vuelo a Bogotá

— SNTP (@sntpvenezuela) August 29, 2016

​Al Jazeera has not officially commented on the situation as yet.

According to media reports, Venezuela's opposition is expected to hold a rally in Caracas on Thursday demanding a referendum be called on the resignation of President Nicolas Maduro.

Earlier in August, the UN and Inter-American special rapporteurs on freedom of expression voiced concern over the deterioration of media freedom in Venezuela.

Media outlets in Venezuela have been under growing government pressure, with the country's Supreme Court ordering some news websites to abstain from disseminating videos of lynchings in early June and a number of radio stations operating under expired concessions.