Washington — The household of Austin Tice, the freelance journalist who was kidnapped in Syria greater than 12 years in the past, mentioned they’ve been instructed that he’s alive and effectively, they usually’re pissed off with the U.S. authorities’s lack of ability to deliver him dwelling.
“We’ve from a major supply that has already been vetted throughout our authorities, Austin Tice is alive, Austin Tice is handled effectively. And there’s no doubt about that,” Debra Tice, his mom, mentioned at a information convention on Friday on the Nationwide Press Membership.
She mentioned her son “is being cared for and he’s effectively.”
Tice, a Marine veteran and journalist who labored with a number of information organizations together with CBS Information, the Washington Publish and McClatchy, disappeared on Aug. 14, 2012, whereas he was reporting on the Syrian civil conflict. A brief video that appeared weeks in a while YouTube and Fb confirmed a distressed Tice blindfolded together with his obvious captors. It was the final time he was seen.
Nobody has ever claimed duty for his disappearance, however President Biden has mentioned the U.S. is aware of “with certainty that he has been held by the Syrian regime.”
Fort Value Star-Telegram/Tribune Information Service by way of Getty Photographs
The household mentioned the U.S. authorities is stopping the discharge of details about the supply of Austin Tice’s well-being. However requested whether or not her son is being held by the Syrian authorities, Debra Tice mentioned, “We have at all times identified that.”
Marc Tice, his father, mentioned the brand new info “may be very completely different” from previous leads.
“We’re assured that this info is recent. It signifies as late as earlier this 12 months that Austin is alive and being cared for,” he mentioned.
Debra Tice added that the data is credible as a result of “nearly each entity in the US authorities concerning safety has verified it.”
The lacking journalist’s mother and father and siblings traveled to Washington for conferences with authorities officers this week as a Syrian insurgent offensive challenges Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime. The household mentioned the assembly has been within the works since July and was not prompted by the state of affairs in Syria.
They met with the Nationwide Safety Council, together with Mr. Biden’s nationwide safety adviser Jake Sullivan, on Friday earlier than their information convention. They met with the State Division on Thursday.
The household mentioned they requested whether or not the offensive in Syria might be leveraged within the journalist’s favor and implored Sullivan for a dedication that Mr. Biden would attain out on to Assad. However the household didn’t obtain any assurances, they mentioned.
“There simply appears to be an enormous disconnect between what President Biden has dictated for Austin when it comes to doing every thing that we will to deliver him dwelling, after which the actions and the habits of the people who sit slightly below him,” his brother Simon Tice mentioned.
Debra Tice expressed optimism in regards to the impression President-elect Donald Trump may have on the case when he takes workplace in January. She mentioned Trump, throughout his first time period, “had an obsession” along with her son and getting him dwelling, however members of his administration put up roadblocks.
“Mike Pompeo and John Bolton did all they might to maintain that from taking place,” she mentioned of Trump’s CIA director-turned-secretary of state and nationwide safety adviser.
