Austin Tice's family says they have new evidence he is alive and being cared for

Family of journalist held in Syria for 12 years renews calls on President Biden to bring him home

Freelance journalist Austin Tice went missing in Syria in 2012 and has not been heard from since. Getty Images

The family of Austin Tice, a freelance journalist who disappeared while reporting in Syria in August 2012, said it has received new evidence that he is alive and being “treated well”.

“We are confident that this information is fresh,” said Tice’s father Marc. “It indicates as late as earlier this year that Austin is alive and being cared for.”

Mr Tice said the family would like to disclose more information about what they know but that the US government has instructed them not do so.

Seventeen members of the family including nephews and nieces, most of whom he has never met, descended on Washington on Friday to ask President Joe Biden to use his remaining days in office to bring the native of Houston home.

“We're still hoping that, in these last couple of months, that the Biden administration will actually pursue those instructions vigorously,” Mr Tice told reporters.

Marc Tice, the father of Austin Tice, speaks to the media at the National Press Club in Washington on Friday. AP

Tice was last seen at a checkpoint in Deraya, a suburb of Damascus, on August 13, 2012, two days after his 31st birthday.

In September 2012, a month after he vanished, a 47-second video was released showing Tice blindfolded and surrounded by armed men. He could be heard saying “Jesus” and reciting a prayer in Arabic.

He has not been heard from since and his whereabouts remain a mystery.

The Tice family has long advocated for his release meeting as frequently as possible with US officials.

In August 2022, the US said it knew with “certainty” that the journalist, who had been covering the Syrian civil war, was being held by the Syrian government. Damascus has denied holding Tice, a former Marine Corps captain.

The Tice family met with State Department officials on Thursday and NSC officials including National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan at the White House on Friday.

While the meetings had been on the books since June, they took on added importance as rebel forces pushed scored as series of victories against the government of President Bashar Al Assad after years of stasis.

The Islamist group Hayat Tahrir Al Sham has taken the country’s second largest city Aleppo and the historically significant city of Hama in recent days. Rebel forces are now bearing down on Homs, a strategically important city that, if captured, could limit the government's access to the coast, which is home to a Russian naval base.

The family hopes that the administration will use Mr Al Assad’s sudden vulnerabilities to help push for Tice's release.

“We think this is a time of opportunity,” his father said.

The family expressed frustration with the administration over what it believes is a lack of progress and attention despite Mr Biden's assurances that he would devote resources and energy to the case.

“There just seems to be a massive disconnect between what President Biden has dictated for Austin in terms of doing everything that we can to bring him home, and then the actions and the behaviour of the people that sit just below him,” Tice’s youngest brother Simon said.

The Biden administration said it has won the release of 75 Americans unjustly detained around the world.