Washington – family of Austin TiceThe freelance journalist who was kidnapped in Syria more than 12 years ago said they have been told he is alive and well, and they are frustrated by the US government's inability to bring him home.
His mother, Debra Tice, said at a press conference Friday, “We have received information from a significant source, who has already been investigated within our government, that Austin Tice is alive, Austin Tice has been treated well. And It doesn't have any message.” At the National Press Club.
He said his son was “being taken care of and is fine.”
Tice, a Marine veteran and journalist who worked with multiple news organizations, including CBS News, the Washington Post, and McClatchy, disappeared on August 14, 2012, while he was reporting on the Syrian civil war. A few weeks later a short video surfaced on YouTube and Facebook showing a distraught Tice blindfolded with his captors. This was the last time he was seen.
No one has claimed responsibility for his disappearance, but President Biden has said the US “knows with certainty that he has been captured by the Syrian regime.”
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The family said the U.S. government is preventing the release of information about Austin Tice's well-being. But asked if her son was being held by the Syrian government, Debra Tice said, “We always knew that.”
His father, Mark Tice, said the new information is “very different” from previous clues.
He said, “We believe this information is current. It indicates earlier this year that Austin is alive and being cared for.”
Debra Tice said the information is reliable because “almost every entity of the United States government concerned about security has verified it.”
The parents and siblings of the missing journalist traveled to Washington this week to meet with government officials Syrian rebel offensive Challenged the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. The family said the meeting had been in the works since July and had not taken place due to the situation in Syria.
He met with the National Security Council, including Mr Biden's national security adviser Jake Sullivan, before his news conference on Friday. He met the State Department on Thursday.
The family said they asked whether the attack in Syria could be leveraged in favor of the journalist and asked for a commitment from Sullivan that Mr. Biden reach out directly to Assad. But the family did not get any assurance, he said.
His brother Simon said, “It appears that the orders that President Biden has given us to do everything we can to bring Austin home, and then the actions and behavior of the people sitting right below him.” There's a big difference between.” Tice said.
Debra Tice expressed optimism that President-elect Donald Trump could have an impact on the case when he takes office in January. She said Trump was “passionate” about getting his son and him a home during his first term, but members of his administration created obstacles.
“Mike Pompeo and John Bolton did everything possible to prevent this from happening,” he said of Trump's former CIA director turned secretary of state and national security adviser.