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Austin Tice

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Austin Tice
Austin Tice (May 2012)
Born
Austin Bennett Tice[1]

(1981-08-11)August 11, 1981[1][2]
Plano, Texas, U.S.[1]
DisappearedAugust 13, 2012[3]
Darayya, Syria[4]
NationalityAmerican
Alma materGeorgetown University
OccupationJournalist
Parent(s)Marc and Debra Tice[2]

Austin Bennett Tice (born August 11, 1981) is an American freelance journalist and a veteran U.S. Marine Corps officer who was kidnapped while reporting in Syria on August 13, 2012.[5]

Early life and education

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Debra Tice (right), mother of Austin Tice, with US Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman (left) in 2022

Tice is from Houston, Texas, the eldest of seven siblings.[6] He is an Eagle Scout[7] and grew up dreaming of becoming an international correspondent for NPR.[5][8] At the age of 16, Tice attended the University of Houston for one year, then transferred to and graduated from the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University in 2002.[9] He completed two years of study at Georgetown University Law Center before going to Syria as a freelance journalist during the summer break before his third and final year of law studies.[5]

Career

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Tice was previously a U.S. Marine Corps infantry officer, serving tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan.[10] He left active duty as a Captain but remained in the Marine Corps Reserve. Tice's father said, "He was hearing reports from Syria saying this is happening and that is happening but it can't be confirmed because there really are no reporters on the ground. And he said, 'You know, this is a story that the world needs to know about.'"[11] He was one of only a few foreign journalists to report from inside Syria during the intensification of the civil war.[10] He entered the country in May 2012 and traveled through central Syria, filing battlefield dispatches before arriving in Damascus in late July 2012.[12] Tice's reporting garnered his Twitter account 2,000 followers. He stopped tweeting after August 11, 2012.[10]

Tice was one of the first American correspondents to witness Syrian-rebel confrontations.[13] His coverage was cited, along with efforts of additional reporters, as contributing to McClatchy winning a George Polk Award for war reporting for its coverage of Syria's civil war.[13]

Abduction in Syria

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Austin Tice while in captivity, taken August 2012

Tice was working as a freelance journalist for McClatchy, The Washington Post, CBS and other media when he was abducted from Darayya, Syria.[4][5] There was no immediate contact from Tice or his captors,[5] but in September 2012 a 47-second video of Tice blindfolded and bound was released.[14][15] In October 2012, a US spokesperson said it was believed, based on the limited information it had, that Tice was in the custody of the Syrian government.[16] No government or group in Syria had said it was holding Tice by early 2020.[17]

In February 2015, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) launched a pro bono #freeaustintice campaign. Since September 2012, RSF has been assisting and advising his family. Tice's parents asked RSF to help them raise awareness about their son's situation. RSF partnered with the global advertising agency J. Walter Thompson to prepare a public awareness campaign in order to do everything possible to bring Tice safely home. The campaign had garnered over 17,000 signatories by 2015.[18]

In April 2018, the FBI increased their reward for information regarding Tice's whereabouts to $1 million[19] and two US officials said Tice was believed to have survived captivity.[20]

In August 2018, a US State Department official said the US government still believed Tice is being held by the Syrian government or its allies.[21] Concerning an August meeting between US and Syrian security officials in Damascus, two senior US intelligence sources told Reuters the "ongoing dialogue" with the Syrian government included the fate of Tice.[22]

In November 2018, Reuters reported that Robert C. O'Brien, the US Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs, had called on Russia to "exert whatever influence they have in Syria" to secure Tice's release. The Syrian government said that it was unaware of Tice's whereabouts.[23][needs update]

In December 2018, Tice's parents announced during a press conference that they had received new information that indicated their son was still alive without elaborating further. Speaking to reporters from Beirut, Tice's parents said they believed that the best chance of Tice's release would come from direct talks between the US and Syrian governments.[24]

In summer 2020, Kash Patel, then White House counterterrorism adviser, travelled secretly to Damascus with Roger Carstens, US hostage negotiator, in an attempt to win the release of Tice.[25]

After Tice's disappearance was mentioned by WHCA president Steven Portnoy at the 2022 White House Correspondents Dinner, President Joe Biden invited Tice's parents to the White House for a meeting.[26] Following the 45 minute meeting, his parents said they were hopeful for his return.[26] As part of a statement issued to mark the tenth anniversary of Tice's captivity, Biden noted that the US government knew "with certainty" that the journalist was being held by the Syrian government.[27]

In a statement released on May 3, 2024—World Press Freedom Day 2024—President Biden stated Tice remained a hostage in Syria.[28]

In a speech on December 8, 2024—the day of the fall of the Assad regime—President Biden said that "We believe he's alive [...] we think we can get him back, but we have no direct evidence of that yet."[29] Several papers have reported that fellow detainees saw Tice as recently as 2022.[30] Reports subsequently emerged that Tice was able to escape from his cell in early 2013 after five months of captivity and was found wandering through the Mazzeh neighborhood of Damascus. This was the first time Tice had been publicly seen since his abduction. After being spotted by locals, he went to the house of a prominent Syrian family, but was soon recaptured.[31][32]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b c "Most Wanted • Kidnappings & Missing Persons • AUSTIN BENNETT TICE". FBI. Archived from the original on September 16, 2014. Retrieved September 16, 2014.
  2. ^ a b Muñoz, James (September 4, 2014). "Local Pastor prays for safe return of missing journalist Austin Tice". KENS. Retrieved January 7, 2020.
  3. ^ Banco, Erin (August 13, 2014). "Kidnapped American Journalist Austin Tice Is Still Missing In Syria After Two Years". International Business Times. Retrieved September 6, 2014.
  4. ^ a b Dehghanpisheh, Babak (November 12, 2012). "Family of missing journalist Austin Tice pleads for information". The Washington Post. Retrieved September 6, 2014.
  5. ^ a b c d e Tice, Debra and Marc (August 13, 2014). "Austin Tice, two years later". The Washington Post. Retrieved September 4, 2014.
  6. ^ "Austin Tice disappearance: Parents of U.S. journalist missing in Syria issue plea to captors". CBS News. August 14, 2014. Retrieved September 5, 2014.
  7. ^ Wendell, Bryan (March 22, 2019). "Parents of Eagle Scout journalist missing in Syria since 2012 remain hopeful". Bryan on Scouting. Scouting Magazine. Retrieved March 22, 2019.
  8. ^ Haggerty, Michael (August 14, 2014). "Two Years Later — What Happened to Austin Tice? Missing Journalist's Parents Speak Out". houstonmatters.org. Retrieved January 7, 2020.
  9. ^ Sonia Smith (October 3, 2012). "Video Emerges of Missing Houston Journalist Austin Tice". Texas Monthly. Retrieved February 11, 2015. Tice, an Eagle Scout and the eldest of seven children, grew up in Houston and attended the University of Houston for a year before transferring to Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service, which he graduated from in 2002. He went on to join the U.S. Marine Corps as an officer, rising to the rank of captain and serving combat tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, and enrolled in Georgetown Law School...
  10. ^ a b c Allam, Hanna (August 23, 2012). "Whereabouts of journalist Austin Tice, McClatchy contributor, unknown in Syria". mcclatchydc.com. McClatchy Newspapers. Retrieved January 7, 2020.
  11. ^ "Tice's parents cling to hope for his return". Daily Star. June 27, 2013. Retrieved September 5, 2014.
  12. ^ Harkin, James (May 1, 2014). "Evaporated". Vanity Fair. Retrieved January 7, 2020.
  13. ^ a b "WASHINGTON: Whereabouts of journalist Austin Tice, McClatchy contributor, unknown in Syria". mcclatchydc.com. Retrieved September 5, 2014.
  14. ^ "Former U.S. Marine held captive in Syria". CNN. Archived from the original on September 5, 2014. Retrieved September 5, 2014.
  15. ^ Ball, James (October 1, 2012). "Video emerges of Austin Tice, U.S. journalist who disappeared in Syria". The Washington Post. Retrieved September 6, 2014.
  16. ^ "Journalist Austin Tice held by Syrian government, says US – video". The Guardian. October 3, 2012. Retrieved September 4, 2014.
  17. ^ "State Dept. denies journalist Tice has been seen in custody in Syria". mcclatchydc.com. McClatchy. March 30, 2015. Retrieved January 7, 2020.
  18. ^ Reporters Without Borders Launches #freeaustintice Campaign, a First In US Media History, RSF, 19 February 2015.
  19. ^ Gladstone, Rick (August 14, 2018). "Parents of Austin Tice, Journalist Seized in Syria, Are Confident He's Alive". The New York Times. Retrieved August 29, 2018.
  20. ^ "US believes Austin Tice still alive as FBI offers new $1 million reward". ABC News. Retrieved August 29, 2018.
  21. ^ "6 years after capture, US believes journalist Tice still alive in Syria". Times of Israel. Retrieved August 29, 2018.
  22. ^ "U.S., Syrian security officials met in Damascus: official, report". Reuters. Retrieved August 29, 2018.
  23. ^ "Trump envoy urges Russia help free journalist Austin Tice held in Syria". Reuters. Retrieved November 14, 2018.
  24. ^ "Austin Tice's parents say new information offers further hope that he is alive". The Washington Post. Retrieved January 21, 2019.
  25. ^ Washington, David Charter (December 9, 2024). "How will Donald Trump deal with Syria?". The Times. Retrieved December 10, 2024.
  26. ^ a b Patterson, Callie (May 4, 2022). "Abducted journalist Austin Tice's parents hopeful after Biden meeting". New York Post. Retrieved May 20, 2022.
  27. ^ Conroy, J Oliver (August 11, 2022). "Biden: US knows 'with certainty' Syria holding missing journalist Austin Tice". The Guardian. Retrieved August 14, 2022.
  28. ^ House, The White (May 3, 2024). "Statement by President Joe Biden on the Occasion of World Press Freedom Day 2024". The White House. Retrieved May 3, 2024.
  29. ^ "Austin Tice: Biden says US will try to bring home hostage from Syria". BBC News. December 8, 2024. Retrieved December 8, 2024.
  30. ^ Marcos, Coral Murphy (December 15, 2024). "Austin Tice's mom hopes American found in Syria is 'rehearsal' for son's return". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved December 17, 2024.
  31. ^ Banco, Erin; Landay, Jonathan (December 13, 2024). "Austin Tice: a clue from 2013 in search for US reporter missing in Syria". Reuters. Retrieved December 14, 2024.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  32. ^ Banco, Erin; Landay, Jonathan. "Missing US journalist Austin Tice briefly escaped Syrian jail in 2013 — sources". www.timesofisrael.com. Retrieved December 17, 2024.

Further reading

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