US journalist Austin Tice’s family is furious over a CNN report strongly suggesting her son — who was taken captive in Syria by the Assad regime 13 years ago — is dead.
The CNN documentary and accompanying article by Clarissa Ward, aired and published Tuesday, relied on the testimony of Bassam Al-Hassan, the ex-right-hand man to ousted Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad.
Hassan, who has been charged with war crimes, claimed he was ordered by Assad to execute Tice in 2013 and that the order was carried out by a subordinate.
“Of course, Austin is dead. Austin is dead,” Hassan told CNN.
However, Hassan was previously interrogated by the FBI over these claims and failed a polygraph test, a detail that the family feels CNN buried.
“CNN ran this article without regard for Austin and the torment that this has rained on our family,” Tice’s mother, Deborah, told The Post.
Tice, an ex-Marine, covered the Syrian civil war in its early days as a freelance journalist in 2012. His bylines appeared in the Washington Post, McClatchy and CBS News.
He embedded himself with rebels on the front line. He was kidnapped by the Assad regime on Aug. 13, 2012, while reporting in Daraya, a suburb of Damascus.
In September 2012, a video was released of a blindfolded Tice being led up a mountain by men who appeared to be Jihadis. Tice can be heard reciting the Islamic declaration of faith and crying “Oh Jesus,” as his captors shout “Allahu Akbar.”
US officials determined the video was staged, and CNN reported that the “terrorists” were in fact Syrian soldiers in disguise.
He is believed to have been held in multiple prisons across Syria.
Deborah, 64, said that Hassan is a “pathological liar” who will say anything he needs to in the moment, and accused CNN and Ward of going “off the rails” by giving his statements validity.
She believes Hassan is merely trying to present himself as a reformed individual who is willing to help the US close Austin’s case — but doesn’t actually know what happened to her son.
The anguished mom, who has never given up her conviction that her son is alive, called CNN’s report “another knife to our belly.”
Though the FBI has searched inside Syria, neither Austin nor DNA evidence confirming his demise has turned up.
“The U.S. government is committed to bringing Austin Tice and other Americans unjustly detained home,” a State Department representative told The Post.
“Austin has not been seen in many, many years,” President Trump said in May.
Deborah has spent the last decade doggedly advocating for her son’s rescue.
Her efforts have taken the Houston homemaker to DC to meet with multiple administrations and even to Damascus, where she sat down with newly installed Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa.
She said she saw some of her own son in al-Sharaa — who was held prisoner in Abu Grahib from 2006-2011 while he fought with Al Qaeda in Iraq against the US.
“In many ways, he reminded me of Austin, he’s from a big family, and they’re really important to him. His mother and I have things in common; she was never willing to accept that her son was dead when he was in prison, that’s a lot like me,” she explained.
Deborah said she met with US National Intelligence Director Tulsi Gabbard in April, and was shown intelligence as recent as October 2024 that led her to believe her son is still alive.
She nostalgically recalled how Austin, a former Eagle Scout, was the “leader of the family” who took on a parental role toward his six younger siblings.
“He was the big brother everyone wants to have. Our family is really, really close. They were the happiest days of my life, when all of my children were at home,” she said.
Deborah lamented that Austin’s capture threw her into a world that the stay-at-home mom — who had Austin when she was just 20 years old — was never prepared for.
“There were things I just didn’t know about the world, about the way adults treat each other and deceive each other,” she said.
Though it is no longer believed that Austin is held in a Syrian prison, and all leads so far have turned up cold, Deborah says her “mom radar” tells her he is alive and she looks forward to the day they finally reunite.
“He’s an incredible hugger, he’s an amazing hugger, I have missed those hugs so much.”
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