Syria denies kidnapping US marine veteran prisoner Austin Tice after Biden demanded his release
Syria has denied kidnapping US journalist Austin Tice who disappeared a decade ago just a week after Joe Biden demanded his release.
The former US Marine was kidnapped in August 2012 aged 31 while reporting freelance in Damascus on the uprising against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
His family believes he is alive and still being held in Syria. The identity of Tice’s captors is not known, and there has been no claim of responsibility for his abduction.
The Syrian Foreign Ministry described Tice as a US serviceman and denied the government was holding him or any other US citizen after Biden’s assertions last week.
‘These are baseless allegations,’ the statement said.
Austin Tice is seen praying in Arabic and English while blindfolded in the presence of gunmen shortly after his disappearance
President Joe Biden accused Syria of holding missing journalist Austin Tice. He was last seen 10 years ago after being snatched while covering the country’s civil war
On the 10th anniversary of his disappearance and the day before his birthday, Biden said he knew the government of Bashar al-Assad had been holding Tice.
‘He is a son, he is a brother, and he is an investigative journalist who put the truth above himself and traveled to Syria to show the world the real cost of war,’ said the president.
‘We know with certainty that he has been held by the Syrian regime.
‘We have repeatedly asked the government of Syria to work with us so that we can bring Austin home.
‘On the tenth anniversary of his abduction, I am calling on Syria to end this and help us bring him home.’
Tice, a freelance journalist for several news organizations including CBS News, The Washington Post and McClatchy, went missing at a checkpoint in a contested area west of the capital Damascus.
A video released by supporters of Assad later showed him blindfolded and distressed, surrounded by captors.
Tice worked for CBS News, The Washington Post and McClatchy among others
Austin Tice’s mother Debra said she had never wavered in her determination to bring her son home. She and her husband met Biden in May
He could be heard saying: ‘Oh, Jesus.’
Nothing more has been seen of him since.
However, officials have repeatedly suggested that they believe he is still alive.
Four years ago, U.S. envoy to Syria James Jeffrey said he believed Tice as being held hostage, but offered no further information.
Two years ago, Trump administration officials traveled to Syria to secure his release but returned empty handed. Officials in Damascus reportedly said there could no negotiations about any prisoners so long as U.S. troops were in the country.
And in May a Lebanese security officials met with Biden administration officials in Washington as part of an effort to free Tice.
Throughout the ups and downs, the missing journalist’s parents have kept up a campaign to bring him home.
‘I’ve never wavered. I’m not wavering now,’ his mother Debra told CBS News in an interview earlier this week.
‘There’s no reason not to believe that he’s waiting and hoping and dreaming and planning to walk free.’
Tice is from Houston, Texas, and traveled to Syria to report on the brutal conflict that erupted in 2011 during the Arab Spring
Tice is from Houston, Texas, and traveled to Syria to report on the brutal conflict that erupted in 2011 during the Arab Spring.
In May, Biden met with Tice’s parents and promised that he would use every tool available to secure ‘Austin’s long overdue return to his family.’
On Wednesday, the president reiterated his promise.
‘The Tice family deserves answers, and more importantly, they deserve to be swiftly reunited with Austin,’ he said.
‘We stand with Austin’s many loved ones, and we will not rest until we bring Austin home.
‘Ten years is far, far too long. So is every additional day.’
Secretary of State Antony Blinken demanded that Damascus admit its role.
We continue to demand that Syrian officials fulfill their obligations under the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations to acknowledge the detention of Austin and every other U.S. national held in Syria, a responsibility under international law and an important step in securing their release,’ he said.
