CNN journalist Clarissa Ward documented her and her team rescuing a prisoner from a Syrian prison last week. The video went viral.
Verify-Sy, which describes itself as “an independent and unbiased platform” that fact-checks info out of Syria, ran the name Adel Gharbel, which is what he gave CNN.
The organization couldn’t find a man by that name from Homs.
Instead, Verify-Sy identified the man as Salama Mohammad Salama (emphasis mine):
The Verify-Sy team searched public records for the name “Adel Gharbal” to verify the circumstances and duration of his detention but found no results. Gharbal, who claimed to hail from Homs and whose dialect supported this claim, prompted further inquiries in the city. The team discovered that his real name is “Salama Mohammad Salama,” a revelation that brought shocking details to light. Salama, known as “Abu Hamza,” is a first lieutenant in Syrian Air Force Intelligence, notorious for his activities in Homs. Residents of the Al-Bayyada neighborhood identified him as frequently stationed at a checkpoint in the area’s western entrance, infamous for its abuses.Abu Hamza reportedly managed several security checkpoints in Homs and was involved in theft, extortion, and coercing residents into becoming informants. According to locals, his recent incarceration—lasting less than a month—was due to a dispute over profit-sharing from extorted funds with a higher-ranking officer. This led to his detention in one of Damascus’s cells, as per neighborhood sources.
The man hid in a locked cell and appeared to be in great shape despite the awful conditions and treatment of prisoners in the prison. I doubt anyone would look like he did if they didn’t see the sun for three months, as he claimed.
Verify-Sy published two audios from residents in Al-Bayyada:
He participated in military operations on several fronts in Homs in 2014, killed civilians, and was responsible for detaining and torturing numerous young men in the city without cause or on fabricated charges. Many were targeted simply for refusing to pay bribes, rejecting cooperation, or even for arbitrary reasons like their appearance. These details were corroborated by families of victims and former detainees who spoke with Verify-Sy.—In addition to his violent past, residents testified that Abu Hamza has been attempting to garner sympathy since the fall of the regime, claiming he was “forced” into committing his crimes. The Verify-Sy team also learned that he deactivated his social media accounts and changed his phone number, presumably to erase evidence of his involvement in armed activities and war crimes.
So, did CNN fabricate the story?
Or did the man hide because he didn’t want to be found since it sounds like everyone wanted him dead?
Maybe even both.
“We have subsequently been investigating his background and are aware that he may have given a false identity,” CNN told The New York Post. “We are continuing our reporting into this and the wider story.”
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