CNN confirms identity of freed Syrian prisoner as Assad intelligence officer

CNN has confirmed the identity of Salama Mohammad Salama, a former Syrian air force intelligence officer who appeared in a video report purporting to be a freed rebel prisoner.

Last week, the network came under intense scrutiny after releasing a video of its chief international correspondent, Clarissa Ward, accompanied by an armed rebel as they discovered a man locked away in a cell in a "secret" prison in Damascus.

In the video, Ward scours the prison, looking for US journalist Austin Tice, who was abducted in August 2012.

Ward stumbles on the “only locked cell" and finds a man hiding under a blanket who identifies himself as a “civilian” named Adel Gharbal, a rebel fighter from Homs.

He claimed he had been arrested three months earlier and transferred to the prison days before the toppling of President Bashar al-Assad.

After questions arose about the footage’s veracity, CNN launched an investigation into the man’s identity and confirmed that he had served as a lieutenant in Assad's Air Force Intelligence Directorate.

The network said Salama’s identity had been confirmed using facial recognition software on a photograph supplied by a resident of the Bayada neighbourhood in Homs.

The image shows him seated at a desk in a government office, appearing to wear military clothing.

Misinformation accusations

Syrian fact-checking organisation Verify-sy first identified the man as Salama after searching public records for the name “Adel Gharbal” to verify his detention, but no results were found.

The group also spoke to residents of the Bayada neighbourhood, who identified him as managing a security checkpoint infamous for its abuses.

Known as 'Abu Hamza', Salama reportedly managed several checkpoints in Homs and was involved in 'theft, extortion and coercing residents into becoming informants'

Known as “Abu Hamza”, Salama reportedly managed several checkpoints in Homs and was involved in “theft, extortion and coercing residents into becoming informants".

Residents reported that his recent detention was due to a dispute over “profit-sharing from extorted funds with a higher-ranking officer”.

Additionally, Verify-sy found that Salama participated in military operations in Homs in 2014. Several victims’ families and former detainees reported that he had detained and tortured many men in the city on fabricated charges.

“As Syrians first and journalists second, we must ask: did CNN deliberately mislead its audience to rehabilitate Abu Hamza’s image, or did it fall victim to misinformation?” the group said in a statement.

“And if the latter, what led the network to this mistake, especially when Syrians have succeeded in exposing crimes and violations that the world at large has failed to document over decades?”

A week after the overthrow of Assad's government, one of Syria's top human rights organisations reported that around 100,000 missing people are almost certainly dead. 

According to the Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR), approximately 136,000 people had been either detained or forcibly disappeared by the Assad government.

The organisation also said that since the beginning of the Syrian revolution in March 2011, over 157,000 people have been arrested or forcibly disappeared, including 5,274 children and 10,221 women.