Nizar Zakka, a former prisoner detained in Iran on spying charges, is spearheading a private effort to help find captive US journalist Austin Tice -- but he is concerned that deposed Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad may be hiding him to use as leverage in securing his own future. "It looks like Assad since day one has the intention to take him as a security for his life," Zakka says. IMAGES AND SOUNDBITES