A Syrian fact-checking group says the prisoner CNN’s Clarissa Ward helped free from a Syrian prison may be a torture officer from Bashar al-Assad’s regime who gave the network a false identity. There is.

CNN published In a video released Wednesday, Ward and a cameraman enter a prison she described as “deep within the regime’s Air Force intelligence headquarters,” where they discover a lonely man huddled under a blanket.

“It’s okay, it’s okay.”

Notable moments as CNN @Clarice Soward Her team discovers a Syrian prisoner left alone in a secret prison, unaware that Assad’s regime is over. pic.twitter.com/Cz6TBWHvts

— Lauren Cohn (@LConeCNN) December 11, 2024

CNN identified the man as “Adel Gulbal” and described him as a “rebel fighter.” According to According to Verify-Sy, a Syrian fact-checking agency, there are no public records of Adel Gulbal in Syrian prisons.

Verify-Sy identified the man as Salama Mohammed “Abu Hamza” Salama. He is reportedly a senior Assad regime official who is notorious for demanding bribes and torturing those who refuse.

“Salama, known as “Abu Hamza,” is a lieutenant in the Syrian Air Force Intelligence and is notorious for his activities in Homs.Residents in the al-Bayada district, known as “Abu Hamza”, are notorious for their activities in Homs. Verify-Sy, which received international acclaim, said: Certification From the International Fact-Checking Network affiliated with the Poynter Institute in 2022.

Hamza was reportedly “involved in theft, extortion, and coercing residents to provide information,” Verify-Sy wrote.

Hamza told CNN he had not seen the sun for three months. But local residents told Verify-Sy that the regime jailed Hamza less than a month after the CNN report “for sharing the profits from the extorted funds with senior officials.”

Verify-Sy seemed to doubt the claim that he didn’t see sunlight, saying, “His reaction to the light was not consistent with such a claim. Even when looking up at the sky, he He didn’t flinch or blink,” he wrote. They also pointed out that his appearance did not match that of someone who had been incarcerated for 90 days.

Local residents told Verify-Sy about Hamza’s notorious reputation.

“Despite his seemingly innocent and calm demeanor in the CNN report, Salama has a tragic past. killed someone for no reason or He was responsible for detaining and torturing many young people in the city on false charges.Many simply refused to pay bribes or cooperate, and even made arbitrary decisions such as their appearance. I was targeted for a reason,” a resident told the outlet.

CNN responded to the fact check on Sunday night.

“We have since investigated his background and are aware that he may have provided a false identity,” the news outlet said. said New York Post. (Related: Stephen Colbert says CNN is ‘objective’; audience immediately laughs)

Ward called The encounter was “one of the most extraordinary moments I’ve witnessed” in her 20 years of reporting.

Ward and CNN said they were in Syria searching for Austin Tice, a freelance journalist who went missing while reporting on Syria for The Washington Post. The US State Department has “credibly” accused the Syrian government of seizing and detaining Taice.

Hopes for Taïs’ release reached an all-time high when rebels overthrew President Bashar al-Assad’s 24-year regime in early December.