WASHINGTON: US President Joe Biden called on Wednesday for the immediate release of Austin Tice, a former US Marine and a freelance journalist who was kidnapped in Syria in August 2012.
“We have repeatedly pressed the government of Syria to work with us so that we can, at last, bring Austin home. Today, I once again call for his immediate release,” Biden said in the statement marking twelve years since Tice’s abduction.
This week marks 12 years since Tice disappeared while reporting in Daraya, a suburb of Damascus, on Aug. 13, 2012.
At the time, Tice, a former Marine Corps captain, was working as a freelance journalist and photographer for several news organizations, including CBS, The Washington Post, and the McClatchy Company. For his work covering the Syrian civil war, Tice was awarded the 2012 George Polk Award for War Reporting alongside journalist David Enders.
On Sept. 26, 2012, nearly six weeks after his abduction, a video surfaced showing Tice blindfolded and detained by a group of unidentified armed men. To this day, no one has claimed responsibility for his capture.
US authorities believe that Tice was kidnapped and is being held by Syrian officials, a claim that Damascus has denied. The State Department acknowledged in 2022 that it was engaged in direct talks with Syrian officials in an effort to secure Tice’s safe return to the United States.
With Reuters
