CNN is investigating the identification of a person who the community reported to be a Syrian prisoner free of a secret jail as CNN cameras rolled after a neighborhood fact-checking group stated he was truly a killer and torturer for Bashar al-Assad’s regime.
CNN’s Clarissa Ward went viral final week when she lined the alleged rescue of a “Syrian prisoner,” who she reported spent “three months in a windowless cell” in one of many Assad regime’s secret prisons. Ward referred to as it “one of the crucial extraordinary moments I’ve witnessed.” However some observers have been skeptical of the given narrative, for the reason that man gave the impression to be decently groomed and in good situation for somebody locked in a horrific jail and allegedly not given meals or water in a number of days.
Confirm-SY, a Syrian journalism group specializing in fact-checking and combating misinformation, on Sunday reported the prisoner was truly Salama Mohammad Salama, also called Abu Hamza, who was a primary lieutenant in Syrian Air Pressure Intelligence infamous for torturing younger males.
CNN is investigating the identification of a person who the community reported to be a Syrian prisoner free of a secret jail as cameras rolled.
Within the section, Ward stated she was looking for traces of lacking journalist Austin Tice when she discovered a person hiding beneath a blanket inside a locked cell at a jail constructing on the Syrian Air Pressure intelligence headquarters in Damascus. She stated the guard, who was a insurgent fighter, made the CNN crew flip off the cameras whereas he shot the lock off the cell door.
The person was beneath a blanket and initially did not transfer however ultimately got here to his ft, and Ward could be briefly seen within the section respiration a sigh of reduction.
The person appeared wholesome, and Ward repeatedly instructed him he was “OK” as she supplied him water whereas he clutched her arm. The insurgent fighter instructed the person he was “free,” and the person stated he hadn’t heard something about his household for 3 months. Ward reported that his captors fled with the autumn of Damascus, and he had been left with out meals or water for at the least 4 days.
The person claimed to not know the infamous Assad was ousted by the militant group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, which launched individuals from prisons in Damascus the place Assad held political opponents.
The person instructed CNN his title was Adel Ghurbal, and that he was a civilian who had been arrested three months in the past and frolicked in three totally different jails whereas being repeatedly interrogated. However Confirm-Sy, which is affiliated with the Poynter Institute that additionally runs PolitiFact, reported the person was offering bogus info.
Confirm-SY reported the prisoner was truly Salama Mohammad Salama, also called Abu Hamza, who was a primary lieutenant in Syrian Air Pressure Intelligence infamous for torturing younger males.
“The Confirm-Sy crew searched public data for the title ‘Adel Gharbal’ to confirm the circumstances and period of his detention however discovered no outcomes. Gharbal, who claimed to hail from Homs and whose dialect supported this declare, prompted additional inquiries within the metropolis. The crew found that his actual title is ‘Salama Mohammad Salama,’ a revelation that introduced surprising particulars to gentle. Salama, often called ‘Abu Hamza,’ is a primary lieutenant in Syrian Air Pressure Intelligence, infamous for his actions in Homs. Residents of the Al-Bayyada neighborhood recognized him as continuously stationed at a checkpoint within the space’s western entrance, notorious for its abuses,” Confirm-SY reported.
“Abu Hamza reportedly managed a number of safety checkpoints in Homs and was concerned in theft, extortion, and coercing residents into turning into informants,” Confirm-SY continued. “In line with locals, his current incarceration—lasting lower than a month—was attributable to a dispute over profit-sharing from extorted funds with a higher-ranking officer. This led to his detention in one among Damascus’s cells, as per neighborhood sources.”
The report stated Salama has a “grim historical past” and has “participated in navy operations on a number of fronts in Homs in 2014, killed civilians,” including that he was “chargeable for detaining and torturing quite a few younger males within the metropolis with out trigger or on fabricated expenses.”
CNN’s Clarissa Ward supplied the person water because the community’s cameras rolled. (CNN/ Display screen shot)
“Many have been focused merely for refusing to pay bribes, rejecting cooperation, and even for arbitrary causes like their look. These particulars have been corroborated by households of victims and former detainees who spoke with Confirm-Sy,” the report stated.
“As Syrians first and journalists second, we should ask,” Confirm-SY continued. “Did CNN intentionally mislead its viewers to rehabilitate Abu Hamza’s picture, or did it fall sufferer to misinformation? And if the latter, what led the community to this error, particularly when Syrians have succeeded in exposing crimes and violations that the world at giant has didn’t doc over a long time?”
CNN has defended Ward’s reporting however admits the person might have given a false identification.
“Nobody apart from the CNN crew was conscious of our plans to go to the jail constructing featured in our report that day,” a spokesperson instructed Fox Information Digital. “The occasions transpired as they seem in our movie. The choice to launch the prisoner featured in our report was taken by the guard – a Syrian insurgent. We reported the scene because it unfolded, together with what the prisoner instructed us, with clear attribution.”
“We’ve subsequently been investigating his background and are conscious that he might have given a false identification,” the CNN spokesperson continued. “We’re persevering with our reporting into this and the broader story.”
Movies of the section posted on X have been hit with group notes.
CNN has additionally added a pinned remark to its YouTube video of the section, which has 1.3 million views as of Monday morning.
“Since this report was revealed, CNN has continued to look into the background of the prisoner featured in it. CNN is now conscious that he might have given a false identification. We’re persevering with our reporting into this and the broader story,” it reads.
Fox Information Digital’s Hanna Panreck contributed to this report.
