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SYRIAN PRISONS

Mikati meets Austin Tice's mother


Mikati meets Austin Tice's mother

Caretaker Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati receives Deborah Tice, mother of missing American journalist Austin Tice. (Credit: NNA)

BEIRUT — Caretaker Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati met on Friday with Deborah Tice, the mother of American journalist Austin Tice, who disappeared in Syria in 2012, according to the state-run National News Agency (NNA).

The missing journalist's mother thanked Mikati for "his efforts to revive this issue during his meeting with the head of the new Syrian administration, Ahmad al-Sharaa, in Damascus last week."

Mikati expressed hope that "the current talks will lead to a positive solution."

A week ago, Mikati made his first official visit to Damascus since the Islamist-led rebels seized power in Syria last December, toppling Bashar al-Assad's regime. During his visit, he held talks with Sharaa and discussed Austin's case.

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"We have discussed this issue, and the Syrian side is fully playing its part by establishing a special body for criminal cases and searching for all missing persons with the help of lists. We will provide the new Syrian administration with complete lists of the names of missing persons, and it may be necessary to carry out forensic examinations and DNA tests," he said at the end of the talks.

Hostage Aid Worldwide announced that it believed American journalist was alive but did not provide specific details about his location. Tice, a journalist who worked for outlets including Agence France-Presse, McClatchy, The Washington Post, and CBS, disappeared in 2012 near Damascus during the early years of Syria’s Civil War.

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Lebanese-American activist Nizar Zakka shared photographs with L'Orient Today of locations where his NGO believes Tice was detained between November 2017 and February 2024 under Bashar al-Assad’s regime.

BEIRUT — Caretaker Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati met on Friday with Deborah Tice, the mother of American journalist Austin Tice, who disappeared in Syria in 2012, according to the state-run National News Agency (NNA).The missing journalist's mother thanked Mikati for "his efforts to revive this issue during his meeting with the head of the new Syrian administration, Ahmad al-Sharaa, in...