Journalists urge US to press harder for release of Austin Tice

Marking the 11th anniversary of journalist Austin Tice's abduction in Syria, his mother Debra Tice on Monday implored President Biden to employ the same pragmatic approach used to free US hostages in Iran earlier this month to secure her son's release.

“Show me, show Austin, that Austin has value to you and this country, that he is worth bringing home,” Tice said in a statement at the National Press Club.

Iran last week agreed to a deal that would free five detained U.S. citizens in exchange for the disbursement of $6 billion in frozen Iranian oil revenue to be used for humanitarian purchases and the release of several Iranians held in the U.S. on sanctions violations.

“Negotiations and the return of assets to their original owners to achieve return of hostages is a positive development," Tice said. "Such pragmatism, recognizing the interest of all parties, has a proven history of being the best way forward.” 

Tice joined a panel featuring Washington Post columnist Jason Rezaian, the former Tehran bureau chief who spent 18 months in an Iran's notorious Evin Prison, The Wall Street Journal's Washington Bureau Chief Paul Beckett. and journalist Sonia Smith, who has covered the ongoing developments in Austin Tice's cases, to discuss the challenges that face the US government in its attempts to resolve journalist hostage cases.

The Wall Street Journal is currently pressing for the release of its Moscow correspondent Evan Gershkovich, who was arrested March 29. U.S. ambassador to Russia Lynne Tracy met Monday with Gershkovich in Lefortovo Prison in Moscow, where he has been held since his arrest in March. She said in a statement that he appeared to be in good health. A Russian court has extended his detention to Aug. 30.

“Journalists by nature are going to be higher profile,” Beckett said. As symbols and representatives of values that some regimes oppose, they become valuable targets, he said.

“That becomes a difficult conundrum for any governments trying to secure their release,” Beckett said.  “A free press is an anathema to dictatorships.”

After Gershkovich's arrest, The Wall Street Journal’s swiftly and publicly rejected Russian charges that Gershkovich was a spy, Beckett said. He said the newspaper acted with support and guidance from other publications. 

“It was important to us in the first few days to have the National Security Council, Secretary of State Antony Blinken and the President refute charges that Evan was a spy,” Beckett said. “That’s when you need government to loudly join you in refuting bogus, baseless charges.” 

Rezaian recalled how Post colleagues and “a whole community of friends and family, and colleagues around the world fought relentlessly for my freedom." He said the federal government has "failed Austin and continues to fail Austin.”

Washington Post Executive Editor Sally Buzbee, who made opening remarks following an introduction by NPC President Eileen O'Reilly, noted The Washington Post's sustained campaign to keep Austin Tice's plight in the public eye with full page photos and ads as part of the newspaper's Press Freedom Partnership project. She called on the federal government to "press forward and make good its promise to secure Austin’s release from Syria.”  

Tice's parents met last year with Biden, who demonstrated deep knowledge about the case, and other government officials, who told them there has been some movement in their son's case, but they have heard nothing since.

Smith last year reported on a fall 2020 meeting in Damascus between U.S. and Syrian government representatives brokered by Lebanon’s security chief during which Syria promised to provide proof of life for Austin if certain undisclosed conditions were met. The US government withheld that information from the family, former NPC Executive Director Bill McCarren noted.

 “We only know this through journalism,” said McCarren, now a consultant on press freedom to the Club.