Beirut, June 16, 2025—The Committee to Protect Journalists is distressed by news reports that Austin Tice was executed in 2013 on the orders of ousted Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, after more than 12 years of uncertainty over the American journalist’s fate.
“Reports that journalist Austin Tice was executed in 2013 are horrifying and demand immediate answers,” said CPJ Regional Director Sara Qudah. “Tice’s family has endured more than a decade of unbearable grief and ambiguous loss. CPJ urges United States and Syrian authorities to break their silence, disclose the full truth, and finally provide closure. Accountability cannot be delayed any longer.”
Tice was a freelance photojournalist who contributed to The Washington Post, McClatchy, Al Jazeera English, and other news outlets. He was detained at a checkpoint outside the Syrian capital Damascus in 2012 and has not been heard from since.
Major General Bassam Al Hassan, a former commander, is said to have told FBI and CIA investigators in early 2025 that Assad ordered Tice’s execution, sources familiar with the conversation told the BBC. The account has not been corroborated by the U.S. government.
Tice’s family told The New York Times that they did not believe Hassan’s account.
CPJ‘s email to the FBI and text message to Ali Al Rifaii, director of public relations in Syria’s information ministry, requesting comment did not immediately receive any responses.
CPJ’s latest annual prison census on December 1, 2024, showed that five journalists were imprisoned in Syria, including Tice, and that eight were missing after disappearing between 2012 and 2015, at the height of Syria’s civil war.
After al-Assad’s overthrow on December 8, thousands of prisoners were freed, including only one of the five jailed journalists, Tal al-Mallohi.
This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by CPJ Staff.