The American media stories that he didn’t know his actual identification and realized it when a resident of Homs offered a photograph of the identical man whereas on obligation
A person filmed by CNN being freed by rebels from a Damascus jail was a former intelligence officer of the ousted Syrian regime, in line with native residents, and never a civilian jailed as he had claimed, the US medium which basically admits its mistake.
CNN first discovered the person whereas trying to find clues about lacking American journalist Austin Tice. In a video report, chief worldwide correspondent Clarissa Ward and her crew, accompanied by a insurgent guard, discovered themselves in a cell in a Damascus jail that was padlocked from the skin. The guard blasted the lock with a gun and the person discovered himself alone within the cell, underneath a blanket.
“Syria is free.”
Extraordinary second as @clarissaward and her crew witness a Syrian prisoner free of a secret jail in Damascus.
Left alone for days with out meals, water or mild, the person was unaware Bashar al-Assad’s regime had fallen. pic.twitter.com/ZAnGiBlLON
— CNN Worldwide PR (@cnnipr) December 11, 2024
When he stepped outdoors, the person appeared bewildered. Requested by the insurgent fighter who freed him, the person recognized himself as Adel Ghurbal from the central Syrian metropolis of Homs.
He claimed he was held in a cell for 3 months, including that it was the third jail he had been held in. The person additionally stated he didn’t know the Assad regime had fallen. He was held in a jail run by the Syrian Air Drive's intelligence providers till the autumn of the Assad regime.
A picture obtained by CNN on Monday now signifies the person's true identification – stated to be a lieutenant within the Assad regime's Air Drive Intelligence Directorate, Salama Mohammad Salama.
A Homs resident offered CNN with a photograph of the identical man stated to be on obligation in what seems to be a authorities workplace. Facial recognition software program offered a greater than 99% match to the person CNN met within the Damascus jail cell. The photograph reveals him sitting at a desk, apparently in navy apparel.
CNN admits its mistake on Syrian prisoner: He was an Assad agent, not a civilian
As CNN continued to hunt details about the freed prisoner after the preliminary report, many Homs residents recognized the person as Salama, also called Abu Hamza. They instructed CNN he was identified for operating Air Drive Intelligence Directorate checkpoints within the metropolis and accused him of getting a repute for extortion and harassment.
It's unclear how or why Salama ended up in a Damascus jail, and CNN has been unable to achieve him.
Over the weekend, Confirm-Sy, which says it’s a Syrian fact-checking web site, was the primary to establish the person as Salama. He stated he had been jailed for lower than a month over a dispute over “the distribution of income from extorted funds with a senior officer”. CNN can not independently confirm this declare.
Insurgent guards handed him over to the Syrian Pink Crescent. The medical assist group later posted a photograph of him on social media, saying it had returned a freed prisoner to his relations in Damascus.
Salama's present destiny is unknown.
Supply: CNN Greece
