Rebels in Syria
Rebels in SyriaReuters/Emin Sansar / Anadolu

A local fact check finds that the prisoner CNN journalist Clarissa Ward helped free from a secret facility in Syria may have given a false identity and is actually Salama Mohammad Salama, also known as Abu Hamza, a notorious member of Bashar al-Assad’s forces, who would torture those who refused to pay him off, and not a civilian as he claimed.

The CNN team, accompanied by a rebel guard, were seen visiting former Syrian air force intelligence headquarters in Damascus, as they came across a cell in a Damascus jail that was padlocked from the outside and the man was found alone inside the cell, under a blanket. When he removed the blanket, the man appeared bewildered. Questioned after he was freed, he identified himself as Adel Ghurbal from the central Syrian city of Homs,"

Ward called the footage of the startled prisoner being led from the prison, which went viral last week, “one of the most extraordinary moments I have witnessed” in her journalism career.

But “independent and unbiased” fact-checkers Verify-Sy published a detailed report on Sunday in which it stated that the seemingly innocent prisoner was actually Salama Mohammad Salama — a first lieutenant in the Syrian air force intelligence who can boast a long history of alleged war crimes, including extortion, theft, and forcing residents to cooperate with the regime.