Analysis of media reports and public statements

CNN Probes Clarissa Ward's Report After Man Freed from Secret Damascus Prison Identified as Assad's Intelligence Officer

Dec 17, 2024, 02:15 PM

CNN has launched an investigation into a report that featured Clarissa Ward, the network's chief international correspondent, discovering and helping to free a man from a secret prison in Damascus. The man, who initially identified himself as Adel Gharbal, a civilian from Homs, claimed he had been imprisoned for three months. However, subsequent investigations by CNN and the Syrian fact-checking organization Verify-Sy revealed that the man was actually Salama Mohammad Salama, a first lieutenant in the Syrian Air Force Intelligence Directorate under the Assad regime. Known as 'Abu Hamza', Salama was notorious for managing security checkpoints in Homs and was involved in extortion, theft, and coercing residents into becoming informants. He was also implicated in the killing and torture of civilians during military operations in Homs in 2014. CNN confirmed Salama's identity using facial recognition software on a photograph provided by a resident of the Bayada neighborhood in Homs, which showed him in a government office wearing military clothing. The network has faced intense scrutiny and criticism for the report, with questions raised about the authenticity of the footage and whether CNN was misled or deliberately staged the event.