The prisoner freed by a CNN reporter from a secret facility in Syria with rebels was actually an intelligence member working under ousted President Bashar al-Assad, according to a local fact checker, as the publication itself confirmed. In a widely shared video, CNN’s chief international correspondent Clarissa Ward was seen in a Damascus prison cell that was locked from the outside. After one of the rebel guards broke the lock using a gun, a man, clearly shaken, was found alone under a blanket.
The man identified himself as Adel Ghurbal from the central Syrian city of Homs and claimed to have been imprisoned for three months. Ms Ward called the incident “one of the most extraordinary moments” she had witnessed in her 20 years of reporting. The video of the entire episode went viral on social media with users praising him for saving the prisoner and criticizing the horrors of the Assad regime.
A CNN journalist finds a prisoner alone in a secret Damascus prison and brings him in in broad daylight, then sits him down, feeds him and interviews him.
According to CNN, the man had no idea that Bashar al-Assad’s regime had fallen.
– Oli London (@OliLondonTV) 12 December 2024
However, independent fact-checkers, Verify-Sypublished a report on Sunday (December 15) stating that the seemingly innocent prisoner was actually Salama Mohammed Salama alias Abu Hamza – a first lieutenant in Syrian Air Force intelligence with a long history of alleged war crimes.
The report said Salama was jailed for less than a month due to a dispute over “sharing profits from funds raised with a high-ranking official”.
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CNN believes
After investigating the facts, Ms. took to her X (formerly Twitter) account and admitted that she had inadvertently helped free a Syrian intelligence officer.
“We can confirm the true identity of the man as Salama Mohammed Salama from our story last Wednesday,” he wrote.
We can confirm the real identity of the man as Salama Mohammed Salama from our story last Wednesday
– Clarissa Ward (@clarissward) 16 December 2024
Notably, the publication also obtained a photograph of Salama, dressed in military clothing, sitting at a desk in a government office while on duty. Facial recognition software provided a more than 99 percent match for Ms. Ward with the man found in prison, confirming the identity.
“It is not clear how or why Salama ended up in the Damascus prison, and CNN has not been able to reestablish contact with him,” CNN said.
Social media users have questioned CNN’s role in the entire incident after it was revealed that Salama had also taken part in military operations in which civilians were killed. He was also responsible for detaining and torturing many youths of the city without reason or on fabricated charges.
