Newsroom
In a bizarre twist that reads like a thriller, a recent CNN report went viral for helping to free a Syrian prisoner — but the man they rescued turned out to be not just any detainee. He was a notorious member of Bashar al-Assad's regime, reportedly involved in torturing civilians.
It all began when veteran journalist Clarissa Ward and her CNN crew, escorted by Syrian rebels, entered a secret prison in Damascus. There, they found a man wrapped in a blanket in a dark, windowless cell. Introducing himself as Adel Ghurbal, he claimed he’d been locked away by government forces for three months and had no idea the Assad regime had fallen.
Locals reported that Salama had been imprisoned for less than a month following a dispute over extortion money with a high-ranking officer.
The footage showed a seemingly emotional moment: the man blinking in the sunlight and gripping Ward’s arm as he was led to freedom. Ward described it as “one of the most extraordinary moments I have witnessed” in two decades of reporting.
But a local fact-checking group, Verify-Sy, soon raised red flags. They discovered the freed prisoner wasn’t an innocent victim — he was actually Salama Mohammad Salama, a first lieutenant in Assad’s air force intelligence. Known as “Abu Hamza,” Salama allegedly ran a reign of terror, extorting residents, torturing detainees who refused to pay bribes, and even killing civilians during Syria’s brutal civil war.
Suspicion mounted when Verify-Sy pointed out that Salama appeared too well-groomed and healthy for someone who’d supposedly been held in darkness for 90 days. He didn’t flinch when facing sunlight, which also didn’t match his story. Further digging revealed no records of an Adel Ghurbal in the region, exposing his true identity.
Locals reported that Salama had been imprisoned for less than a month following a dispute over extortion money with a high-ranking officer. The rebels — and CNN — unknowingly facilitated his release.
CNN admitted they were investigating the incident after learning of his potential false identity but firmly denied staging the report. The network stated that no one else knew about their plans to visit the prison that day, emphasizing the footage was real.
This isn’t the first controversy for Ward and CNN. Last year, the network had to fend off accusations of faking a report from the Israel-Gaza border when a doctored version of the broadcast went viral.
Though CNN insists the rescue was genuine, the revelation has left many questioning how such a significant misstep could happen — and how a war crimes suspect managed to deceive his way to freedom.
Source: New York Post
