The prisoner freed by a CNN reporter alongside rebels from a secret facility in Syria was actually an intelligence member working under ousted president Bashar al-Assad, according to a local fact checker, as confirmed by the publication itself. In a video that was shared widely, CNN’s chief international correspondent Clarissa Ward came across a cell in the Damascus jail was locked from the outside. After one of the rebel guards blew out the lock using a gun, a man, visibly shaken, was found alone inside, under a blanket.
The man identified himself as Adel Ghurbal from the central Syrian city of Homs and claimed that he had 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 with social media users applauding her for saving the prisoner whilst calling out the Assad regime for its horrors.
CNN journalist finds lone prisoner in secret Damascus prison and carries him out into the daylight before sitting him down, feeding him and interviewing him.
According to CNN, the man had no idea Bashar al-Assad’s regime had fallen.
— Oli London (@OliLondonTV) December 12, 2024
However, independent fact-checker, Verify-Sy, published a report on Sunday (Dec 15), stating that the seemingly innocuous prisoner was actually Salama Mohammad Salama aka Abu Hamza – a first lieutenant in Syrian air force intelligence with a long history of alleged war crimes.
The report added that Salama had been jailed for less than a month because of a dispute over “profit-sharing from extorted funds with a higher-ranking officer”.
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CNN acknowledges
After the fact check, Ms took to her X (formerly Twitter) account and acknowledged that she had inadvertently helped free a Syrian intel officer.
“We can confirm the real identity of the man from our story last Wednesday as Salama Mohammed Salama,” she wrote.
We can confirm the real identity of the man from our story last Wednesday as Salama Mohammed Salamahttps://t.co/wb77EEMbnT
— Clarissa Ward (@clarissaward) December 16, 2024
Notably, the publication also received a photograph of Salama, clad in military clothing, sitting on a desk at a government office while on duty. Facial recognition software provided a match of more than 99 per cent with the man Ms Ward met in jail, further confirming the identity.
“It’s unclear how or why Salama ended up in the Damascus jail, 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 as it was revealed that Salama also participated in military operations that killed civilians. He was also responsible for detaining and torturing numerous young men in the city without cause or on fabricated charges.