The freed prisoner who was rescued from a Syrian jail by CNN was a member of Bashar al-Assad’s forces who killed and tortured civilians, the broadcaster has confirmed, as journalist Clarissa Ward gets blasted by critics.
The inmate, whose real name is Salama Mohammad Salama, was found by CNN’s chief international correspondent Ward and her team while they toured an abandoned detention site last Wednesday.
The man, who was locked up in a windowless prison cell, was discovered under a blanket and identified himself as a ‘civilian father’ named Adel Gharbal in a chilling video released by the network.
But earlier this week Syrian fact-checking organization Verify-Sy reported that the man in the clip was in fact a first first lieutenant in the Syrian Air Force Intelligence, which served former President Assad.
CNN launched an investigation into the man’s identity and last night confirmed Verify-Sy’s claims.
Ward wrote on X: ‘We can confirm the real identity of the man from our story last Wednesday as Salama Mohammed Salama’.
In a statement, CNN said a resident of the Syrian city of Homs provided them with an image said to be of the same man sitting at a desk in what appears to be a government office wearing a military uniform.
This was fact-checked with facial recognition software which showed that the image of the man rescued from the Damascus cell was a 99 per cent match with the officer.
Citing local sources, CNN added that Salama ‘was known for running the Air Force Intelligence Directorate’s checkpoints in the city’ and was accused of ‘having a reputation for extortion and harassment’.
According to the Syrian fact-checking organisation, Salama allegedly killed civilians and was responsible for detaining and torturing young men in Homs on fabricated charges, the organization claimed, citing residents.
They went on to accuse Salama of involvement in ‘theft, extortion and coercing residents into becoming informants,’ and said he participated in military operations on several fronts in Homs in 2014.
CNN said it was unsure how he ended up in the Damascus jail, but according to Verify-Sy, he had been locked up for less than a month.
The broadcaster also said his whereabouts are currently unknown.
With the prisoner’s real identity revealed, Ward and CNN have been met with condemnation from critics.
One X user wrote: ‘This is a totally shambolic event for CNN. Maybe take some accountability for how long you allowed this outrage to take place?’.
Another post read: ‘This is an insanely weak non retraction from CNN’.
Others called the reporter a ‘liar’ and questioned how the man’s seemingly recently trimmed beard did not raise any doubts.
‘You weren’t the least bit curious as to why he was well groomed and not dirty?’.
Others, however, defended CNN and Ward.
‘I don’t think she had malicious or deceptive intent, and I don’t see any benefit for dog piling on her for deception by the prisoner’, one X account posted.
Others thanked Ward for her transparency and for clarifying CNN’s mistake.
‘You are getting a lot of nasty comments here but I thank you for being honest. You were deceived… that happens. What matters is being transparent about it’, one post said.
Meanwhile, another X user wrote: ‘Thank you for correcting, Clarissa, and for offering the extra essential context that was needed here to educate us of the real story behind this man. You were simply doing your job and couldn’t have possibly known.’
Ward was touring the detention site where countless civilians were tortured and beaten to death, when her team seemingly stumbled upon a cell which was still locked.
A Syrian rebel guard reportedly shot open the prison cell door and found the trembling prisoner found under the blanket.
Ward provided the man, who claimed he had not seen sunlight in three months, with food and water, and was then led outside.
But Verify-Sy questioned the report, noting that the alleged prisoner did not flinch or blink when he presumably looked up at the sky for the first time in months.
‘Despite the purported harsh treatment of detainees in secret prisons, Gharbal appeared clean, well groomed and physically healthy, with no visible injuries or signs of torture – an incongruous portrayal of someone allegedly held in solitary confinement in the dark for 90 days,’ reported Verify-Sy.
Upon further investigation, Verify-Sy said it could not confirm Gharbal’s identity – but after speaking to locals in Homs, was able to identify him as Salama Mohammad Salama, or Abu Hamza.
‘Residents of Al-Bayyada neighborhood said he was frequently stationed at a checkpoint in the area’s western entrance, infamous for its abuses,’ Verify-Sy reported.
‘Many were targeted simply for refusing to pay bribes, rejecting cooperation or even for arbitrary reasons like their appearance,’ the organization claimed.
Since the beginning of the Syrian revolution in March 2011, over 157,000 people were arrested or had been forcibly disappeared – including 5,274 children and 10,221 women, according to the Syrian Network for Human Rights
The incarcerated included protesters, human rights defenders, political dissidents, doctors who treated demonstrators or opposition figures, as well as their family members.
Over 1,500 people died under the torture, which included electrocuting genitals or hanging weights from them; burning them with oil, metal rods, gunpowder or flammable pesticides; crushing heads between a wall and the prison cell’s door; inserting needles or metal pins into bodies; and depriving prisoners of clothes, bathing and toilet facilities, the human rights network said.
The worst seemed to be Sednaya Prison, outside of Damascus, which spanned the size of 184 soccer stadiums and was surrounded by two minefields.
A 2017 Amnesty International report found thousands were killed in mass hangings in Sednaya, which it labelled a ‘Human Slaughterhouse’.
Between 20 and 50 people were killed every week, usually on Monday and Wednesday nights. Amnesty estimated that between 5,000 and 13,000 people were executed between September 2011 and December 2015.
