The chilling remnants of a notorious prison in the Republican Guard Compound in Damascus, Syria, bear witness to the horrors endured by its inmates.
The eerie echoes of despair are etched into the walls of solitary confinement cells, where prisoners used olive stones to scratch out messages of desolation. The prison, now abandoned, is a grim testament to the brutal regime of Bashar al-Assad, which has been accused of forcibly disappearing, torturing, and murdering countless individuals.
According to The Independent, the prison is believed to be one of the locations where Austin Tice, the longest-held American journalist in history, was detained. Tice, a former U.S. Marine, was abducted in 2012 while reporting on the Syrian civil war. He is one of several Americans who remain unaccounted for, including psychotherapist Majd Kamalmaz, who disappeared in 2017.
The U.S. government believes that Tice was alive until the fall of Assad's regime. However, the evidence of his detention, like that of many others, may have been destroyed. U.S. officials have reported the use of acid vats and cremation to eliminate evidence of the regime's atrocities. As such, the urgency to thoroughly search every potential detention site is paramount.
Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs, Roger Carstens, who recently joined a search mission in Damascus, emphasized the need for further investigation. "More work needs to be done on that specific site [the Republican Guard Compound] alone. There are many more sites in different physical locations that must be investigated," he said.
The task of searching these sites is complicated by the chaotic aftermath of Assad's fall. Thousands of people have descended on these areas, seeking information about their missing loved ones. The U.S. is being assisted by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), the Islamist rebel group that led the overthrow of Assad.
Carstens expressed concern about the potential loss of crucial evidence. "One of my greatest concerns is that every day, evidence disappears, is damaged, or is lost. And so, it will be unable to be used to either find Austin or prosecute those who may have had a hand in his detention," he said.
The Republican Guard Compound, like other sensitive sites, is now guarded by rebels. Their primary task is to protect the document vaults, which contain evidence of those who vanished and the officials responsible for their disappearances.
Austin Tice's story is a chilling reminder of the dangers faced by journalists in conflict zones. In May 2012, Tice, a former Marine Corps captain and Georgetown law student, crossed the Turkish-Syrian border to join a group of Free Syrian Army rebels. He reported for McClatchy and The Washington Post, and also appeared on BBC Radio and CBS News. After nearly three months in Syria, Tice was detained while driving towards the Lebanese border. He has been missing for 12 years, making him the longest-held American journalist in history.
The only solid proof of Tice's survival is a video released in 2012. Since then, there have been credible reports that Tice could still be alive and has been held in various locations, including regime prisons, military and air force intelligence branches, private homes, and security directorates.
The search for Tice and others like him continues, with the hope that they may still be alive. The Hostage Aid Worldwide organization believes that Tice is still alive, with its chief, Nizar Zakka, stating that there has never been any proof of Tice's death.
The Independent attempted to contact Tice's family but has not yet received a response. There are also concerns that Tice may have been taken out of Syria to Tehran or Russia, although there is no evidence to support this.
The secretive nature of the Assad regime has made Syria a "black box," according to Carstens. "We had a hard time determining whether the reports we received were fallacious, motivated by money, or mislabeled by names or geography. And that made this problem incredibly frustrating," he said.
The Assad regime's methods of erasure have made it nearly impossible to trace what happened to the missing individuals. Maryam Kamalmaz, the daughter of Majd Kamalmaz, knows this all too well. Her father, a Syrian-American psychotherapist, was detained in Damascus in 2017. U.S. officials believe he died in detention, but there is no evidence to confirm this.
Maryam Kamalmaz has called on the international community to send professionals to Syria to help find out what happened to the missing individuals. "I think it's really important that the international world understands how huge this is and how crucial it is to have professionals sent to Syria to help in every shape and form to preserve these documents and to find out what happened to these family members that disappeared," she said.
Carstens agrees that more needs to be done and has pledged that the U.S. government will continue the search for Tice and other missing Americans, in collaboration with Syria's new Islamist administration.
For the families of the missing, the search continues. The agony of not knowing what happened to their loved ones is a constant source of pain. "It is ruthless and heartless to do this to familiesto never acknowledge our loved ones, to make them disappear, to put us through this emotional rollercoaster of not knowing anything," Maryam Kamalmaz said.
The search for the missing is a stark reminder of the human cost of conflict and the importance of holding those responsible accountable. As the search continues, the hope remains that those who have disappeared will be found and that justice will be served.
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