American journalist captured in Syria in 2012 could finally be found
PICTURE: Austin Rice
In the wake of the long-awaited return of two American journalists wrongly detained in Russia, the American government and people were urged to not forget about Austin Tice, the journalist held captive in Syria since 2012.
Reporters Without Borders (RSF) urges the Biden Administration to redouble efforts to secure Tice’s release, just as it did for Wall Street Journal correspondent Evan Gershkovich and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) journalist Alsu Kurmasheva on 1 August in a prisoner swap.
RSF welcomes the efforts of the Biden Administration and the many U.S. government officials involved in securing the journalists’ release. Nevertheless, American freelance journalist Austin Tice has been missing for 12 years since being taken hostage near Damascus, and is presumed to still be held in Syria.
There have been few signs of progress towards his release, and the Syrian regime did not confirm his detention.
Tice was taken prisoner at a checkpoint near Damascus on 14 August 2012 while covering Syria’s civil war for several media outlets. He remained incommunicado since the day he was captured, but President Joe Biden declared in 2022 that the U.S. government knew ‘with certainty that he has been held by the Syrian regime’, and called on Damascus to co-operate on efforts to release him.
Those comments marked the first occasion that an American president publicly acknowledged efforts to free Austin, but stopped short of confirming direct negotiations with Damascus, as RSF urged.
On World Press Freedom Day, 3 May 2024, Biden again referred to Tice and called ‘for the immediate and unconditional release of all journalists who have been put behind bars for simply doing their jobs’.
Tice, now 43, is a veteran Captain in the Marine Corps, a graduate of Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service, an Eagle Scout and a National Merit Scholar. He was set to begin his final year at Georgetown Law School in 2012 upon his return from a reporting trip on the Syrian conflict.
His work had been published by the Washington Post, Associated Press and AFP, and broadcast on CBS, NPR and BBC. Tice had, among other prizes, won the 2012 George Polk Award for War Reporting.
The successful negotiations with the Kremlin over Gerschkovich and Kermasheva are a reminder of the results direct engagement can yield. However, Washington and Damascus currently have no official relations. The U.S. embassy in Damascus suspended operations in 2012 and the State Department ordered the Syrian embassy in Washington to suspend its operations in 2014.
Efforts in Congress could further complicate relations, as legislation introduced in 2023 would prohibit any U.S. official from engagement with Syrian officials. The Tice family has said this bill ‘would effectively sentence Austin to more time in captivity’.
RSF has worked closely with Tice’s family, including his parents Marc and Debra, who have fought relentlessly to bring their son home. Since 2015, RSF has partnered with the Washington Post, The New York Times, USA Today, McClatchy and other media outlets in a campaign to free Tice.
Syria ranks 179th out of 180 countries in RSF’s 2024 World Press Freedom Index.
- This report was first published here
