Viral Syrian ‘prisoner’ found by CNN crew cowering in cell ‘was fleeing Assad officer pretending to be regime opponent’

THE viral “prisoner” discovered by a CNN news crew cowering in a cell was one of Assad’s evil torturers, a Syrian fact-checking site has claimed.

The so-called imprisoned civilian was found trembling under a blanket before being freed by the team, exclaiming: “Oh God, there is light.”

The man had named himself to CNN’s Clarissa Ward as Adel Gharbal, a father from Homs.

Gharbal is captured on video being broken out of a cell that he said he had been held in for three months.

He’s shaking and on the verge of tears in the footage, holding Clarissa’s hand while he says that Assad’s intelligence service took him from his home and guards beat him in the prison.

The man gets taken into the sunlight by the team, which he said he hadn’t seen for months.

But fact-checking site Verify-Sy picked up that the alleged prisoner bizarrely didn’t flinch or blink when he looked up at the sky, which seems unusual for someone who had been held captive for so long.

The site, a part of Poynter’s International Fact-Checking Network, said: “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.”

They added that it was “an incongruous portrayal” of someone allegedly kept “in solitary confinement in the dark for 90 days”.

The CNN team had provided food and water for the man after getting him out the cell, who claimed he was left without any supplies for four days when his captors fled.

While Verify-Sy couldn’t immediately confirm Gharbal’s identity, after speaking to locals in Homs, they were able to confirm the man as Salama Mohammad Salama, or Abu Hamza.

They said he was a first lieutenant in the Syrian Air Force Intelligence which served overthrown tyrant Bashar al-Assad under his regime.

Verify-Sy reported that residents of the Al-Bayyada said he was “frequently stationed at a checkpoint in the area’s western entrance, infamous for its abuses”.

They went on to accuse Salama of involvement in “theft, extortion and coercing residents into becoming informants,” adding that he participated in military operations on various fronts in Homs in 2014.

Salama also allegedly brutally killed civilians and was responsible for detaining and torturing young men in the city on fabricated charges, residents claim.

Verify-Sy said: “Many were targeted simply for refusing to pay bribes, rejecting cooperation or even for arbitrary reasons like their appearance.”

Residents also say Salama was thrown into the Damascus prison less than a month ago because of a disagreement he had with a higher-ranking officer over cash he allegedly extorted.

After the spectacular fall of the regime, the man has been trying to gain sympathy to protect his life, claiming he was “forced” into committing his crimes, locals said.

Salama allegedly even went as far as deactivating his social media accounts and changing his phone number to erase any evidence of his involvement under Assad’s regime.

After the CNN clip, it’s unclear what happened to the apparent prisoner as he was captured getting into a Red Crescent vehicle that drove away.

But a CNN spokesperson said its portrayal of the man’s rescue was authentic and played out how it was reported.

The spokesperson told the Daily Beast: “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 transpired as they appear in our film.

“The decision to release the prisoner featured in our report was taken by the guard – a Syrian rebel. We reported the scene as it unfolded, including what the prisoner told us, with clear attribution.”

But the spokesperson acknowledged the prisoner may have given Clarissa Ward a fake name.

They added: “We have subsequently been investigating his background and are aware that he may have given a false identity.

“We are continuing our reporting into this and the wider story.”

One of the biggest rebel operations after overthrowing Assad saw fighters liberate the harrowing Sednaya Military Prison – nicknamed the Human Slaughterhouse.

Haunting images from Sednaya show massive piles of clothes and shoes hidden away in a secret compartment.

Horrific footage also revealed piles of dead bodies in the dungeons of the hellhole site.

The bodies were taken to Al-Mujtahid Hospital as teams carried out an investigation into the secret areas of the prison.

RAPE, TORTURE AND DEATH

Some held at Sednaya say they were raped, and in some cases, forced to rape other inmates.

Floors of cells were coated in blood from tortured prisoners, according to a 2017 Amnesty report, with the bodies of dead inmates collected like rubbish at 9am each morning by guards.

Detainees were also made to follow horrific rules while being deprived basic necessities like food, water and medicine.

When food would be delivered it would often be cruelly scattered across cell floors by guards with a mixture of blood and dirt.

A human iron press was even discovered that was allegedly used to crush prisoners to death in Sednaya.

Rebels also found dozens of red rope nooses used for mass hangings in an execution room.

Other disturbing accounts say the mass hangings occurred once or twice a week on a Monday and Wednesday – chillingly in the middle of the night.