American journalist Austin Tice (portrait left) was kidnapped in Syria in 2012. Here, his parents, Debra and Marc Tice, held a press conference in Beirut in 2018.
Joseph Eid / AFP via Getty Images
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American journalist Austin Tice (portrait left) was kidnapped in Syria in 2012. Here, his parents, Debra and Marc Tice, held a press conference in Beirut in 2018.
Joseph Eid / AFP via Getty Images
This Sunday marks the 10th anniversary of the day The disappearance of American journalist Austin Tice. He is believed to have been kidnapped on the outskirts of Damascus, Syria, in 2012.
“He’s in Syria. That’s for sure,” Debra Tice, Tice’s mother, said of the intelligence she learned. “He is definitely being held with a government-related entity.” She talked to All things Considered last week about her years-long effort to free her son, who is also a Marine veteran.
Austin Tice’s mother said her son was in Syria reporting on the country’s civil war at the time to “show the world the true cost of war,” she said.
World last seen a glimpse by Tice in a 46-second video posted on YouTube in September 2012.
In it, the freelance journalist appeared in tattered clothes, blindfolded and led by masked men holding guns. The men are chanting, “God is the greatest.”
Tice is recorded reading a popular Islamic phrase in Arabic, bowing in anguish. He exclaims, “Oh my God, oh my God” just before the video clip ends.
Video footage at the time shows Tice, then 31, being held by Islamist extremists.
The US government has since publicly confirmed that Tice was held by the Syrian government.
“We have repeatedly asked the Syrian government to work with us so that we can bring Austin home,” the president said. Biden said in a statement last week. “On the 10th anniversary of his abduction, I call on Syria to end this and help us bring him home.”
Marc and Debra Tice, parents of American journalist Austin Tice, who was kidnapped in Syria in 2012, hold a portrait of him during a news conference in Beirut in 2017.
Joseph Eid / AFP via Getty Images
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Joseph Eid / AFP via Getty Images
The Syrian government has never acknowledged Tice’s detention.
The Tice family continues to push the White House to do more to negotiate with the Syrian government.
“It’s going to take three things: engagement, negotiation and confession,” she told NPR. “It’s always an intrinsic part of any kidnapping, hostage taking.” “And the US government has not been willing to engage directly with the Syrian government. And until that happens, nothing else can happen.”
The Tice family has now called on three administrations, including those of former Presidents Barack Obama and Donald Trump, to negotiate with the Syrian government to free their son.
