By CNN has initiated an internal investigation into a viral report by journalist Clarissa Ward, who encountered a man locked in a cell during her visit to one of former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s infamous detention centers. The man, identified on camera as Adel Gharbal, claimed he had been a civilian imprisoned for three months without food or water following the regime’s collapse. However, questions have since arisen about the authenticity of his story.
Ward and her team discovered the man while exploring a facility known for its history of torture and mass killings. In the footage, Ward is seen offering him food and water before he was transported in a Red Crescent vehicle. The encounter quickly captured global attention, drawing focus to the brutal conditions in Assad’s prisons.
“You’re okay, you’re okay.”
A remarkable moment as CNN’s @clarissaward and her team find a Syrian prisoner left behind in a secret prison, alone and unaware the Assad regime was no more. pic.twitter.com/Cz6TBWHvts
— Lauren Cone (@LConeCNN) December 11, 2024
Although the initial impact of the story went viral, wrote The Daily Mail, allegations of deception against Ward have emerged. Syrian fact-checking organization Verify-Sy has raised doubts, pointing to inconsistencies in the man’s appearance and demeanor, which they argue are inconsistent with someone subjected to prolonged harsh confinement.
Despite the purported harsh treatment of detainees in secret prisons, Gharbal appeared clean, well-groomed and physically healthy, with no visible injuries or signs of torture – an incongruous portrayal of someone allegedly held in solitary confinement in the dark for 90 days,’ reported Verify-Sy, a part of Poynter’s International Fact-Checking Network.
Upon 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, which served former President Bashar al-Assad.
‘Residents of Al-Bayyada neighborhood said he was frequently stationed at a checkpoint in the area’s western entrance, infamous for its abuses,’ Verify-Sy reported.
They went on to accuse Salama of involvement in ‘theft, extortion and coercing residents into becoming informants,‘ and said he participated in military operations on several fronts in Homs in 2014.
Residents of the area also alleged that Salama was involved in killing civilians and was responsible for detaining and torturing young men in the city based on fabricated charges.
CNN has responded to the allegations, acknowledging that the man may have provided a false name but standing by the integrity of the report. A spokesperson stated, “The events unfolded exactly as shown in our footage,” emphasizing that the decision to release the prisoner was made by the rebel guard accompanying Ward’s team. CNN Worldwide CEO Mark Thompson has committed to a thorough investigation, promising transparency and a complete examination of Salama’s background.
This controversy has renewed attention on the horrors of Assad’s detention centers, including Sednaya Prison, which Amnesty International has called a “Human Slaughterhouse.” Since 2011, over 157,000 people, including women and children, have been detained or forcibly disappeared in Syria, with thousands reportedly dying under torture. Sednaya became particularly infamous between 2011 and 2015, with estimates suggesting 5,000 to 13,000 people were executed there during that time.
In 2023, ward revealed that she and her team were held captive while reporting in Africa. The New York Post reported at the time that “the 44-year-old veteran war correspondent traveled to Sudan to report on the civil war, which has ignited a humanitarian crisis with more than 26 million people facing famine.
In an essay she penned for CNN, Ward said she and her team were detained by a militia led by a man who went by the moniker ‘the general,‘ just hours after arriving in North Darfur.
Ward, cameraman Scott McWhinne and producer Brent Swails were inside a vehicle when they were surrounded by armed fighters who angrily told them not to film on the scene.
Ward’s producer tried to defuse the situation but the general grabbed a rifle and fired off a round– apparently targeting a bird.”
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