President Joe Biden called on “Syria to work for the release of American journalist Austin Tice, who was kidnapped a decade ago in Damascus,” and said in a statement: “We know that the Syrian regime has detained him. We have repeatedly asked the Syrian government to work with us so that we can bring Austin home. “.
“On the tenth anniversary of his kidnapping, I call on Syria to put an end to this and help us bring him home,” he added.
“There is no higher priority in my administration than bringing home Americans held hostage or unjustly held abroad,” he noted. This is a pledge I made to the American people and to Austin’s parents, and I am determined to honor it.”
Tice was a photojournalist working for several news organizations, including Agence France-Presse, “Washington Post” and “CBS” when he disappeared following being arrested at a checkpoint in Damascus on August 14, 2012. Tice, who was 31 years old at the time of his arrest, appeared, Blindfolded as an unknown group of armed men holds him in a video clip in September 2012, but there has been no information regarding him since then, according to “Agence France Presse”.