Russian prisoner release renews attention on Houston resident Austin Tice’s long captivity in Syria

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WASHINGTON — Tuesday marks exactly 12 years since, Houston resident Austin Tice, a freelance journalist, left for a reporting assignment in Syria. His family hasn’t heard from him since.

His captivity has spanned three presidential administrations, who have worked with Texas’ congressional representation to secure his release. The circumstances of his captivity are unclear, but his family and the U.S. government believe him to be alive. In 2012, an unidentified group released a video claiming he was still alive.

“We have repeatedly pressed the government of Syria to work with us so that we can, at last, bring Austin home. Today, I once again call for his immediate release. The freedom of the press is essential, and journalists like Austin play a critical role informing the public and holding those in power accountable,” President Joe Biden said in a statement Wednesday.

The anniversary comes only two weeks after a high profile prisoner exchange with Russia that included Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, Marine veteran Paul Whelan and Russian-American journalist Alsu Kurmasheva. The successful release has brought renewed attention to Tice’s case.

The Syrian government has not claimed responsibility for Tice’s capture, but the Tice family has urged the U.S. government to work with Damascus to secure his release. The U.S. cut off relations with Syria over President Bashar al-Assad’s human rights abuses amid the Syrian Revolution.

Tice is a veteran captain of the U.S. Marine Corps and freelanced for several news organizations, including The Washington Post, CBS News and McClatchy. He went to Syria in 2012 the summer before his last year at Georgetown Law School. He was captured at a checkpoint while driving toward neighboring Lebanon.

“Our plea is simple: We ask the governments of the Syrian Arab Republic and the United States to directly engage with each other in diplomatic efforts until Austin is safely home,” his family wrote on a website set up to advocate for his release.

The FBI is offering up to $1 million for information that could lead to his release.

Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, has also worked on securing his release. Cornyn led a letter last week pressuring the administration to push harder for Tice’s release. More than a third of his Senate colleagues from both parties, including Sen. Ted Cruz, signed onto the letter.

“On August 11, 2022, you publicly indicated your administration knows that Austin has been held by the Syrian regime. On May 2, 2022, you met with Austin’s parents Debra and Marc Tice and committed to continue to pursue all available avenues to secure Austin's long overdue return to his family,” the senators wrote. “We now reiterate the request that you do everything possible to bring Austin home.”

The Biden administration has been able to secure a handful of high-profile releases of U.S. citizens held overseas. Gershkovich was released after over a year in a Russian prison on charges of espionage — the first arrest of an American journalist on espionage charges since the Cold War. The Wall Street Journal and U.S. intelligence community fervently denied that he was a spy. Whelan, who was working as a security consultant at the time of his arrest in 2018, was also arrested on espionage charges.

The administration also secured the release of two Texans in 2022: basketball star Brittney Griner of Houston, and Marine veteran Trevor Reed of West Texas.

Reed traveled to Russia in 2019 to learn Russian and was arrested for intoxication. He was sentenced to nine years in Russian prison. Reed was released in April of 2022 but returned to the region in November of that year to fight for the Ukrainian cause. He was injured by shrapnel hitting both of his legs, ABC News reported.

Griner was detained in February 2022 for possessing a small amount of medically prescribed cannabis oil, which is illegal in Russia. Griner was also sentenced to 9 years in prison — a sentence the U.S. government considered excessive and the product of a sham trial. Griner returned to the United State in December of 2022 and went on to play on the U.S. Olympic Team in Paris this year where the U.S. team won gold. Russia was not invited to compete due to its invasion of Ukraine.

Cornyn has raised the cases of other captive Americans after each release. In a statement celebrating the return of Gershkovich, Whelan and Kurmasheva, Cornyn highlighted Tice’s captivity as well as that of Mark Swidan, a Houstonian currently awaiting the death penalty in China on drug smuggling charges. Swidan and the U.S. government assert he is wrongfully detained.

“I join the American people in celebrating the long-awaited release of Paul and Evan and urge the Biden Administration to continue working to secure the freedom of other innocent Americans, including Texans Austin Tice and Mark Swidan,” Cornyn said in a statement earlier this month.

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