Top-secret intelligence files uncovered by the BBC have for the first time confirmed that missing American journalist Austin Tice was imprisoned by the regime of now-deposed Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Former Syrian officials have also corroborated Mr. Tice’s detention to the BBC.
The US government had previously stated its belief that Tice was held by the Syrian government, but the Assad regime consistently denied these claims, and details surrounding his disappearance remained unknown. These newly revealed intelligence files and testimonies from former regime officials shed light on what happened to the journalist after his abduction in August 2012.
Austin Tice vanished near the Syrian capital of Damascus on August 14, 2012, shortly after his 31st birthday. He was working as a freelance journalist covering the Syrian civil war. Approximately seven weeks later, a video surfaced online showing him blindfolded and with his hands bound, being forced to recite an Islamic declaration of faith by a group of armed men. While this suggested a jihadist group was responsible, analysts and US officials quickly questioned the video’s authenticity, suggesting it may have been staged. No group or government ever claimed responsibility for his disappearance, and there had been no contact with him since, leading to widespread speculation about his whereabouts.
The BBC’s investigation, part of an ongoing effort for a Radio 4 podcast series, uncovered the intelligence files while accompanying a Syrian investigator to an intelligence facility. These files represent the first evidence confirming the Syrian regime’s detention of Mr. Tice since efforts to locate him began following the fall of Bashar al-Assad in early December 2024.
The files, specifically labelled “Austin Tice,” consisted of communications from various branches of Syrian intelligence. Their authenticity has been verified by the BBC and law enforcement sources. One communication, marked “top secret,” indicates that he was held in a detention facility in Damascus in 2012. Additional sources identified this facility as Tahouneh, and a former senior Syrian intelligence officer also confirmed that Mr. Tice was held in Damascus by a paramilitary group. The BBC investigation definitively proves that the Assad regime’s consistent denial of knowledge about his whereabouts was false.
According to the investigation, Austin Tice was arrested near the Damascus suburb of Darayya and subsequently held by members of the National Defence Forces (NDF), a paramilitary group loyal to President Assad. A Syrian official confirmed to the BBC that the journalist was held there until at least February 2013. During this period, he developed stomach issues and received medical treatment from a doctor on at least two occasions. Blood tests reportedly revealed that Mr. Tice was suffering from a viral infection at the time.
A source who visited the facility and saw Mr. Tice told the BBC that he was treated better than Syrian detainees but appeared “sad” and had lost his “joy.” Separately, a former member of the NDF with detailed knowledge of Austin Tice’s detention informed the BBC that “Austin’s value was understood” and that he was considered a “card” to be used in diplomatic negotiations with the US.
Mr. Tice reportedly made a brief escape attempt by squeezing through a window in his cell but was later recaptured. He was also interrogated at least twice by a Syrian government intelligence officer between late 2012 and early 2013.
Following Assad’s ouster in December 2024, then-US President Joe Biden stated his belief that Mr. Tice was still alive. Two days prior, Tice’s mother, Debra Tice, announced that a “significant source” had confirmed her son was alive and being “treated well.” However, when prisons were emptied after the government’s fall, there was no sign of Mr. Tice, and his current whereabouts remain unknown.
The Tice family and US authorities are aware of the intelligence files uncovered by the BBC, as is a Syrian group working to gather information on crimes committed by the Assad regime. Austin Tice is believed to be one of the longest-held American hostages. His parents, Debra and Marc Tice, have tirelessly campaigned for his release since his disappearance. A former US marine captain and law student at Georgetown University, Austin Tice travelled to Syria in 2012 to report on the civil war as a freelance journalist. He disappeared within a vast detention system, with the Syrian Network for Human Rights estimating that 100,000 people disappeared under the Assad regime.
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