CNN launches investigation amid fears Clarissa Ward’s Assad jail rescue may not be what it appeared

CNN has launched an investigation into reporter Clarissa Ward’s viral rescue of a “hidden prisoner” who said he had spent three months in one of former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s infamous prisons.

Ward was touring the detention center where countless civilians were tortured and beaten to death when her team apparently came across a cell that was still locked.

Inside was a man hiding under a blanket, who identified himself as a “citizen” named Adel Gharbal, a father from Homs.

The journalist eventually provided food and water for the man, who later claimed he was left without any sustenance for four days as his captors fled to the rebels during the fall of Damascus.

But Syrian fact-checking site Verify-Sy questioned the report, noting that the alleged prisoner did not flinch or blink as he looked skyward for what is believed to be the first time in months.

‘Despite the alleged harsh treatment of prisoners in secret prisons, Gharbal appeared clean, well-groomed and physically healthy, with no visible injuries or signs of torture – an incongruous image for someone reportedly held in solitary confinement in the dark for 90 days ‘ reported Verify-Sy, part of Poynter’s International Fact-Checking Network.

After further investigation, Verify-Sy said it could not confirm Gharbal’s identity, but after speaking to locals in Homs, it was able to identify the man as Salama Mohammad Salama or Abu Hamza.

They said he was a first lieutenant in the Syrian Air Force intelligence service who served under former President Bashar al-Assad.

Verify-Sy, a Syrian fact-checking site, had questions about the report

“Residents of Al-Bayyada neighborhood said he was regularly stationed at a checkpoint at the western entrance to the area, notorious for abuses,” Verify-Sy reported.

They then accused Salama of involvement in “theft, extortion and forcing residents to become informants,” and said he had taken part in military operations on several fronts in Homs in 2014.

Salama also allegedly killed civilians and was responsible for detaining and torturing young men in the city on trumped-up charges, residents alleged.

“Many were targeted simply because they refused to pay bribes, rejected cooperation, or even for arbitrary reasons such as their appearance,” Verify-Sy claimed.

The residents further alleged that Salama was thrown into Damascus prison less than a month ago over a dispute with a senior officer over money he allegedly extorted.

He has since tried to gain sympathy after the fall of the regime, claiming he was “forced” to commit his crimes, according to locals.

Salama is also said to have deactivated his social media accounts and changed his phone number in an attempt to erase any evidence of his involvement in armed activities and war crimes.

A spokesperson for the network acknowledged that the inmate may have given Ward a false name and said it is investigating claims that he is not who he said he was. CNN Worldwide CEO Mark Thompson is pictured

It is unclear what happened to the man after the CNN video, when he got into a Red Crescent vehicle and drove away.

But a spokesperson for CNN told the Daily Beast the portrayal of the apparent rescued man played out exactly as they reported.

“No one other than the CNN team was aware of our plans to visit the prison building featured in our report that day,” the spokesperson said.

“The events took place as they appear in our film,” he added.

‘The decision to release the prisoner from our report was made by the guard, a Syrian rebel. We have reported the scene as it happened, including what the prisoner told us, with clear attribution.”

However, the spokesperson acknowledged that the inmate may have given Ward a false name.

“We have subsequently investigated his background and are aware that he may have provided a false identity,” the spokesperson said.

“We are continuing our reporting on this and the broader story.”

Assad’s prisons were known for their brutality, with Sednaya prison (pictured) being called a ‘human slaughterhouse’

Since the start of the Syrian revolution in March 2011, more than 157,000 people have been arrested or forcibly disappeared, including 5,274 children and 10,221 women, according to the Syrian Network for Human Rights.

The detainees included protesters, human rights defenders, political dissidents, doctors treating demonstrators or opposition members, as well as their relatives.

More than 1,500 people died under torture, which included electrocuting genitals or hanging weights; burning them with oil, metal rods, gunpowder or flammable pesticides; crushing heads between a wall and the prison cell door; inserting needles or metal pins into bodies; and depriving prisoners of clothing, bathing and toilet facilities, the Human Rights Network said.

The worst appeared to be Sednaya prison, outside Damascus, which was the size of 184 football stadiums and surrounded by two minefields.

A 2017 Amnesty International report found that thousands of people died in mass hangings in Sednaya, which it called a “human slaughterhouse.”

Between 20 and 50 people were killed every week, usually on Monday and Wednesday evenings. Amnesty estimated that between 5,000 and 13,000 people were executed between September 2011 and December 2015.