The person accused of being accountable for holding the lacking American journalist Austin Tice has claimed that ousted Syrian President Bashar al-Assad ordered his execution, safety sources have informed the BBC.
Main Normal Bassam Al Hassan is a former commander within the Republican Guards who was a part of President Assad’s interior circle.
He was additionally the Chief of Workers of the Nationwide Defence Forces (NDF), the paramilitary group {that a} BBC investigation uncovered was accountable for holding Mr Tice after his abduction in 2012.
The invention was made as a part of an upcoming BBC Radio 4 podcast in regards to the disappearance of Austin Tice.
The American journalist vanished close to the Syrian capital of Damascus in August 2012, simply days after his thirty first birthday.
He had been working as a contract journalist and was leaving Syria when he was kidnapped.
The fallen regime constantly denied figuring out of his whereabouts – the BBC investigation confirmed that was false and that Mr Tice was being held in Damascus.
Al Hassan, who’s topic to UK, EU, Canadian and US sanctions, oversaw the ability the place Mr Tice was held.
Earlier this 12 months, he’s stated to have met with US regulation enforcement at the very least thrice in Lebanon.
Sources declare that at the very least a type of conferences was within the US embassy complicated.
Throughout these conversations, he’s stated to have informed investigators from the FBI and CIA that the now-ousted President Assad ordered the execution of lacking American journalist Austin Tice.
Sources accustomed to the conversations informed the BBC that Al Hassan claims to have initially tried to dissuade President Assad from killing Mr Tice, however that he ultimately handed on this order and that it was carried out.
Al Hassan can also be understood to have offered potential places for the journalist’s physique. Sources accustomed to the FBI investigation have stated that efforts to verify the validity of Al Hassan’s claims are ongoing, and {that a} search is meant to occur of the websites the place Mr Tice’s physique may very well be.
Western intelligence sources accustomed to the main points of Al Hassan’s declare that President Assad gave the order to kill Mr Tice are sceptical that he would instantly give such an instruction, as he’s recognized for having mechanisms for distancing himself from such actions.
The BBC accompanied Mr Tice’s mom, Debra, to Beirut because the thirteenth anniversary of her son’s disappearance approaches. Upon discovering out that Bassam al Hassan had spoken to US officers, Debra Tice tried to fulfill with Al Hassan herself and contacted the US embassy requesting help.
She informed the BBC: “I just want to be able to speak to him as a mother and ask him about my son.” Her try to fulfill with Al Hassan was unsuccessful.
When requested in regards to the claims by Al Hassan, she stated her feeling was that he “fed the FBI a story that they wanted to hear” to assist them shut the case.
Debra Tice has led a tireless and decided marketing campaign to carry her son residence and stays dedicated to discovering him. She informed the BBC: “I am his mother, I still believe that my son is alive and that he will walk free.”
Individually, a former member of the NDF with intimate data of Austin Tice’s detention informed the BBC “that Austin’s value was understood” and that he was a “card” that may very well be performed in diplomatic negotiations with the US.
Bassam Al Hassan was thought of one in all President Assad’s most trusted advisors. After the Syrian regime’s collapse in December, Mr Al Hassan had fled to Iran.
Sources near him have informed the BBC that whereas in Iran, Al Hassan acquired a telephone name and was requested to return to Lebanon to fulfill with US officers. It’s believed that he was given assurances that he wouldn’t be detained.
For years, consecutive US presidents have stated that Mr Tice, a former US Marine captain, who served in Iraq and Afghanistan and was a regulation scholar on the prestigious Georgetown College in Washington, was alive.
In December 2024, then President Joe Biden informed reporters on the White Home that “we believe he’s alive,” and that “we think we can get him back, but we have no direct evidence of that yet”.
