CNN Investigating Man Who Possibly Gave ‘False Identity’ in Syria Report

CNN says it is investigating the identity of a Syrian man who may have given the network a “false identity” during a segment depicting his apparent release from a secret Damascus prison, after a Syrian fact-checking organization alleged he participated in the torture and killing of civilians.

The harrowing report was fronted by the network’s chief international correspondent, Clarissa Ward, who, along with a crew, visited the prison on Dec. 11 in the wake of the collapse of the regime of Bashar al-Assad.

During the segment, broadcast a day later, Ward says they were there looking for the missing American journalist Austin Tice, who was kidnapped while reporting in Syria in 2012.

The CNN crew entered the facility followed by an armed guard—a CNN source told the Daily Beast the guard was a Syrian rebel.

Once inside, they noticed a locked cell with a blanket possibly covering something on the floor. The guard agreed to shoot the lock open, but asked that the CNN crew to turn its cameras off.

With the door opened and the cameras turned back on, the crew discovered a man in the cell underneath the blanket. He identified himself as Adel Gharbal from Homs and said he had been kept in the cell for three months.

“You’re OK, you’re OK,” Ward told the man, who appeared unaware that Assad’s dictatorship had been overthrown.

On Sunday, however, a Syrian fact-checking group claimed his story doesn’t quite hold up to scrutiny.

Verify-Sy, which is part of Poynter’s International Fact-Checking Network, reported that it identified the man as a first lieutenant in Syrian Air Force Intelligence, an intelligence agency that served the Assad regime.

After a search of public records that it said could not confirm his professed identity, along with interviews with locals in Homs, Verify-Sy alleged his name is Salama Mohammad Salama, also known as Abu Hamza.

The outlet accused Salama of involvement in “theft, extortion, and coercing residents into becoming informants.”

In a statement, CNN said the segment accurately depicted the events that played out when its crew visited the prison.

“No one other than the CNN team was aware of our plans to visit the prison building featured in our report that day,” a CNN spokesperson told the Daily Beast. “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."

The spokesperson then acknowledged that the man may have given them a false identity: “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.”

Citing accounts from locals, Verify-Sy said Salama was thrown in the Damascus prison less than a month ago because of a dispute with a higher-ranking officer over money they allegedly extorted.

The outlet also alleged Salama participated in the killing and torture of civilians in 2014.

The Daily Beast has not independently verified the allegations.

Verify-Sy also questioned whether the segment had been staged, noting the man’s seemingly good condition and trimmed beard.

Others had raised similar concerns about aspects of the report when it first broadcast: Mediaite reporter Charlie Nash called the segment “bizarre,” noting a “huge number of questions it raises” including about the “remarkably good condition” of the man in the cell who supposedly had gone without food or water for four days.