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Washington — The household of Austin Tice, the freelance journalist who was kidnapped in Syria greater than 12 years in the past, stated they’ve been informed that he’s alive and nicely, they usually’re annoyed with the U.S. authorities’s lack of ability to deliver him dwelling.
“Now we have from a big supply that has already been vetted throughout our authorities, Austin Tice is alive, Austin Tice is handled nicely. And there’s no doubt about that,” Debra Tice, his mom, stated at a information convention on Friday on the Nationwide Press Membership.
She stated her son “is being cared for and he’s nicely.”
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 battle. A brief video that appeared weeks in a while YouTube and Fb confirmed a distressed Tice blindfolded along with his obvious captors. It was the final time he was seen.
Nobody has ever claimed accountability for his disappearance, however President Biden has stated the U.S. is aware of “with certainty that he has been held by the Syrian regime.”
Fort Value Star-Telegram/Tribune Information Service through Getty Photographs
The household stated 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 stated, “We’ve all the time recognized that.”
Marc Tice, his father, stated the brand new data “may be very totally different” from previous leads.
“We’re assured that this data is contemporary. It signifies as late as earlier this yr that Austin is alive and being cared for,” he stated.
Debra Tice added that the knowledge is credible as a result of “nearly each entity in america authorities relating to safety has verified it.”
The lacking journalist’s dad and mom 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 stated 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 stated they requested whether or not the offensive in Syria could possibly 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 stated.
“There simply appears to be a large disconnect between what President Biden has dictated for Austin by way of doing every little thing that we will to deliver him dwelling, after which the actions and the habits of the folks that sit just under him,” his brother Simon Tice stated.
Debra Tice expressed optimism concerning the affect President-elect Donald Trump may have on the case when he takes workplace in January. She stated 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 may to maintain that from occurring,” she stated of Trump’s CIA director-turned-secretary of state and nationwide safety adviser.
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