The prisoner CNN's Clarissa Ward purportedly discovered and helped free from a secret Syrian facility last week is actually an intelligence agent who served in Bashar al-Assad's regime and helped the brutal dictator torture and kill civilians, a Syrian news watchdog said Sunday.
While searching a secret Damascus prison in the wake of Assad's fall from power, Ward’s broadcast team "made a startling discovery when a rebel fighter uncovered a hidden prisoner still unaware of Assad’s ouster," according to the outlet.
"Syria is free."
Extraordinary moment as @clarissaward and her team witness a Syrian prisoner freed from a secret prison in Damascus.
Left alone for days without food, water or light, the man was unaware Bashar al-Assad's regime had fallen. pic.twitter.com/ZAnGiBlLON
— CNN International PR (@cnnipr) December 11, 2024
The freed prisoner identified himself as Adel Gharbal, a civilian from Homs who had been confined for three months.
But Verify-Sy, a Syrian fact-checking group, identified the man as Salama Mohammad Salama, a first lieutenant in the Syrian Air Force Intelligence, an agency that served the Assad regime. Residents of Homs identified him as an agent frequently stationed at a checkpoint in the area, according to Verify-Sy.
Salama "participated in military operations on several fronts in Homs in 2014, killed civilians, and was responsible for detaining and torturing numerous young men in the city without cause or on fabricated charges," according to Verify-Sy. "Many were targeted simply for refusing to pay bribes, rejecting cooperation, or even for arbitrary reasons like their appearance."
A CNN spokesperson acknowledged that the prisoner "may have given a false identity" and said the network is investigating his background.
"The events transpired as they appear in our film. … We reported the scene as it unfolded, including what the prisoner told us, with clear attribution," the spokesperson told the Daily Beast. "We have subsequently been investigating his background and are aware that he may have given a false identity. We are continuing our reporting into this and the wider story."
Verify-Sy said Salama was put in prison less than a month ago because of a dispute with a higher-ranking officer over extorted money, citing statements from locals.