The war reporter’s report from a Damascus prison has raised doubts about its authenticity. Syrian fact-checkers claim that the ex-detainee is a corrupt former officer in Bashar al-Assad’s army.
It was a unique scene that CNN cameras captured. This Wednesday, December 11, Clarissa Ward, the flagship special correspondent for the American news channel, entered a secret prison of Bashar al-Assad, located in a Syrian air force building in Damascus. All cells are empty except one. Away from the camera, the rebels who accompany him blow up the closure with a shot. Inside, the journalist notices a presence. Hidden under a dark blanket, a bearded man with a bald head raises his hands in the air. “I am a civilian”, he assures. The journalist, her team and the guards tell her that Bashar al-Assad’s regime has fallen four days ago. The prisoner, who would have spent several days without food or water, is thus the last to be released.
“I think it’s one of the most extraordinary things I’ve witnessed in my career.”
Man is led into the light of day. Emotionally, he hugs the journalist and covers a revolutionary guard and the American correspondent with kisses, before finally being taken in by the Syrian Red Crescent. “I think it’s one of the most extraordinary things I’ve witnessed in my career,” reports Clarissa Ward when she returns to the release of this man, presented as Adil Hurbal, a Syrian from Homs, tossed from prison to prison for three months.
Accusation of staging
Shortly after its broadcast, CNN’s spectacular report, highlighted by numerous Western media (including Liberation), is the subject of criticism sowing doubt about its authenticity. Several commentators, including Syrian journalists, denounce a staging.
How is it that only his cell was not opened when this prison was released? Why didn’t the man react when his door was forced open? Why is he satisfied with so little water when Clarissa Ward hands him her flask? Why doesn’t he blink more when he sees sunlight, even though he’s supposed to have been in darkness for three months? Why, finally, does his beard, his clothes and his nails appear particularly well maintained after several weeks of detention?
On X, Syrian reporter Hussam Hamoud, who works for numerous French media, strongly criticizes the CNN sequence, believing that “among the thousands of real and living stories from Syria, millions of which resonate in every neighborhood, we certainly do not need fictionalized scenes to convey the truth”.
Since the publication of her report, Clarissa Ward has not responded to questions about the sincerity of her work. His only comment regarding this prisoner was to relay a post from the Syrian Red Crescent, indicating that the man was picked up by one of his relatives living in Damascus.
Syrian fact-checkers say prisoner is former corrupt officer
To these initial doubts about the authenticity of this report were added new questions about the true identity of the released prisoner. In an article published this Sunday, December 15, the editorial staff of Verify-Sy, a Syrian media member of the international fact-checking network IFCN (of which CheckNews), indicates that it has obtained new information indicating that the man, presented on CNN as «Fair Hurbal» or «Adel Gharbal» (according to transcripts) allegedly lied about his identity. Worse: he would have served the regime of Bashar al-Assad.
According to Verify-Sy’s investigation, his real name is «Salama Mohammad Salama». Above all “known as “Abu Hamza”, [il] is a first lieutenant in the Syrian Air Force Intelligence, known for his activities in Homs. Residents of the Al-Bayyada neighborhood identified him as frequently positioned at a checkpoint at the western entrance to the area, infamous for its abuses. note Verify-Sy.
Based on testimonies from residents of the Al-Bayyada neighborhood in Homs (families of victims and former detainees), including two anonymized audio recordings, Verify-Sy presents Abu Hamza as a corrupt officer, who extorted Syrians. He would have “participated in multi-front military operations in Homs in 2014, killed civilians and was responsible for the detention and torture of numerous young men in the city, without cause or on trumped-up charges . Many were targeted simply because they refused to pay bribes or cooperate, or even for arbitrary reasons such as their appearance.write the Syrian verifiers.
Why did he end up behind bars? According to testimonies collected by Verify-Sy, Abu Hamza’s detention lasted less than a month and was due “to a dispute over the sharing of profits from extorted funds with a senior officer”. Residents of the Al-Bayyada neighborhood indicated that the prisoner released by CNN has been trying, since the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime, to make people believe that he was forced to act in this way. The man would have “deactivated his social media accounts and changed his phone number, probably to erase evidence of his involvement in armed activities and war crimes”.
CNN refutes any staging but investigates the identity of the prisoner
Contacted by CheckNews, a CNN spokesperson returned to the sequence broadcast on its channels. “No one other than the CNN team was aware of our plans to visit the prison building featured in our report that day. The events unfolded as they appear in our report. The decision to release the prisoner was made by the guard – a Syrian rebel. We reported the scene as it happened, including what the prisoner told us, with clear attribution.” The channel thus refutes any staging, its team having only filmed what the Syrian rebels allegedly showed it.
Asked about the Verify-Sy revelations, the American news channel indicates: “We subsequently investigated his background and we know he may have given a false identity. We are continuing our investigation into this matter and the entire matter.”
On December 12, the Syrian media Zaman Alwsl broadcast images on the social network “the Air Command prison in the middle of Damascus”. This is where the CNN teams were located. In Zaman Alwsl’s video, we find Adil Hurbal’s cell (from 17 seconds), where there is a blanket on the ground.
Contacted by CheckNews, the media indicates that it filmed these images on December 11, 2024, the same day as CNN. Did the Zaman Alwsl teams arrive after that of CNN? The Syrian media was not able to give us a precise answer on this point.
