- Title: Parents of kidnapped U.S. journalist Tice renew plea for release
- Date: 20th July 2017
- Summary: BEIRUT, LEBANON (JULY 20, 2017) (REUTERS) ***WARNING CONTAINS FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY*** VARIOUS OF PARENTS OF MISSING U.S. JOURNALIST AUSTIN TICE HOLDING UP HIS PICTURES VARIOUS OF MOTHER OF TICE, TALKING TO REPRESENTATIVE OF REPORTERS WITHOUT BORDERS (SOUNDBITE) (English) FATHER OF MISSING U.S. JOURNALIST AUSTIN TICE, MARC TICE, SAYING: "We continue to do everything we can think of to find information about where our son is, and what must be done to bring him safely home. We are willing to engage with any government, any group, any individual who can help us in this effort to secure Austin's safe release." BANNER READING (Arabic and English): "PRESS CLUB" NEWS CONFERENCE (SOUNDBITE) FATHER OF MISSING U.S. JOURNALIST AUSTIN TICE, MARC TICE, SAYING: "When Austin was taken, he was working as a freelance journalist, and when any journalist is silenced we're all blindfolded. Freedom of information is a basic human right.'' NEWS CONFERENCE IN PROGRESS PARENTS OF AUSTIN TICE TALKING TO JOURNALISTS (SOUNDBITE) (English) MOTHER OF MISSING U.S. JOURNALIST AUSTIN TICE, DEBRA TICE, SAYING: "Our beloved Austin was taken captive in Syria, we have had no contact at all with him, five years is a very long time for any parent to be missing their child." JOURNALISTS AT NEWS CONFERENCE BANNER READING (Arabic and English): "PRESS CLUB"
- Embargoed: 3rd August 2017 13:53
- Keywords: Syria parents kidnapping 5 years Houston captive Texas conference Austin Tice
- Location: BEIRUT, LEBANON
- City: BEIRUT, LEBANON
- Country: Lebanon
- Topics: Conflicts/War/Peace
- Reuters ID: LVA0016QIVKNB
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: The parents of a U.S. journalist kidnapped in Syria nearly five years ago issued a new plea for his release on Thursday (July 20).
Austin Tice, a freelance reporter and former U.S. Marine from Houston, Texas, was kidnapped in August 2012 aged 31 while reporting in Damascus on the uprising against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
The identity of his captors is not known, and there has been no claim of responsibility for his abduction. The family believe he is alive and still being held captive.
Marc Tice, missing reporter's father, said at a news conference in Beirut that the family was willing to engage with any government, group and individual that could contribute to their son's release.
Nothing has been heard publicly about Tice since a video posted online weeks after he disappeared showed him in the custody of armed men.
U.S. officials and Tice's parents do not think he is held by Islamic State, which typically announces its Western captives in propaganda videos and executed two U.S. journalists in 2014.
The Assad government says it does not know his whereabouts. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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