USA: Biden administration must seize opportunity to free Austin Tice from captivity in Syria
Regime change in Syria presents a fresh opportunity for the Biden administration to free journalist Austin Tice from captivity after 12 long years. A lack of direct engagement with former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, whose government never acknowledged holding Tice, has reportedly been a sticking point. Reporters Without Borders (RSF) urges President Biden to seize the moment to bring Tice home.
Austin Tice was reporting on the Syrian conflict for several media outlets when he was taken prisoner at a checkpoint near Damascus on August 14, 2012. He has remained incommunicado since his capture although President Biden has declared that the U.S. government knows “with certainty that he has been held by the Syrian regime.”
RSF urges President Biden and his administration to now use its full force to engage with Syria’s transitional government to secure Tice’s release. Change of leadership in Syria also presents the Biden administration with the opportunity to be more transparent about what it knows about Tice’s status. Securing Tice’s release would bolster Biden’s press freedom legacy, following the release of American journalists Evan Gershkovich and Alsu Kurmasheva in August as part of a major prisoner swap with Russia.
“As hundreds of prisoners are being freed from Syrian jails, this moment represents the best opportunity in a decade for the United States government to finally secure Austin Tice’s release from captivity in Syria. President Biden has long said that freeing Austin is his top priority. Now he has the opportunity to make it his lasting legacy. No more excuses. No more delays. Bring Austin home today.”
Clayton Weimers
Executive Director, RSF USA
At an RSF event at the Washington Post on World Press Freedom Day 2023, Secretary of State Antony Blinken reiterated the Biden Administration’s commitment to Tice’s case: “We’re extensively engaged with regard to Austin — engaged with Syria, engaged with third countries — seeking to find a way to get him home. And we’re not going to relent until we do,” Blinken said.
Tice, now 43, is a veteran Captain in the Marine Corps and was a student at Georgetown Law School before he left to report on the Syrian conflict. His work has been published by McClatchy News, The Washington Post, The Associated Press, and AFP, and broadcast on CBS, NPR, and BBC. Tice has received the McClatchy Newspaper’s 2012 President’s Award and the 2012 George Polk Award for War Reporting.
RSF continues to support the Tice family, including his parents Marc and Debra, who have fought relentlessly to bring their son home. RSF USA Executive Director Clayton Weimers highlighted Debra Tice as a “tenacious advocate without peer” during RSF’s 2024 Press Freedom Awards, held in Washington, DC on December 3, 2024. Since 2015, RSF has partnered with The Washington Post, The New York Times, USA Today, McClatchy and other media outlets in a campaign to free Tice. To mark last year’s 10th anniversary of Tice’s capture, RSF partnered with The Washington Post for the renewed launch of the #BringAustinHome campaign.
Austin Tice's case is part of a terrible toll for journalists under Assad, with more than 180 journalists killed by the regime since 2011. To date, two journalists have been released and 21 are still in prison.
Syria ranks 179th out of 180 countries in RSF’s 2024 World Press Freedom Index.
