Video emerges

Syria: Abducted US reporter still alive?

Tice was abducted in 2012, but now a video is said to prove that he is still alive.

(Bild: APA/AFP/JOSEPH EID)

Journalist Austin Tice (43) was abducted near the capital Damascus in August 2012 and his family has been fearing for his life ever since. A new video now gives them hope.

After the fall of the ruler Bashar al-Assad in Syria, the US journalist Austin Tice, who was abducted more than ten years ago, is said to have been found alive. Local journalists published photos and videos of an exhausted and absent-looking man with a beard and hooded sweater, who is said to be Tice.

A local security guard discovered Tice in a village near Damascus, wrote Syrian journalist Mohammed Rashid on X. After twelve years in the prisons of the Assad government, a local resident had taken him in.

Journalist: "This is 100 percent not Austin Tice"
However, a journalist from the US television station MSNBC wrote on X that the man had told him his name was Travis. He did not give a surname. He had crossed the border as a "pilgrim" and had been treated well during the seven months he had spent in prison.

A journalist from the US television station CNN, on the other hand, wrote on X: "This is 100 percent not Austin Tice. I have no idea who it is, but it's not Austin."

Was Mann actually in Hungary before?
The news channel Al-Arabiya reported that it was a previously missing person named Travis Pete Timmerman. The police in Hungary had reported him missing in August, but did not provide any information about his citizenship. The 29-year-old was last seen in Budapest. According to some media reports, Timmerman is also a US citizen.

Biden hopes for return
There was initially no confirmation from the US government or Tice's family. However, the family stated around a week ago that they had it on good authority that the 43-year-old was alive. "We believe he is alive," said US President Joe Biden, adding that a return to the USA was possible.

Apparently detained by the regime
Tice was a freelance journalist in Syria when unknown persons abducted him at a checkpoint in a suburb of the capital Damascus in August 2012. A few weeks later, according to his family, a video emerged showing Austin with a group of armed men.

In 2022, the US government announced that it knew with certainty "that he had been detained by the Syrian regime". The Syrian government rejected this at the time.