Freelive prisoner: Assad regime victim or secret service?
Freelive prisoner: Assad regime victim or secret service?
A man who was filmed by CNN when he was freed from rebels from a prison in Damascus was not an ordinary citizen, as he originally claimed. According to local residents, it was a former intelligence officer of the fallen Syrian regime.
The discovery of the man
CNN found the man to the missing US journalist Austin Tice during the research. In a video, the main correspondent for international affairs, Clarissa Ward, and her team reported that in a Damascus prison they came across a cell that was locked from the outside. One of the rebels opened the lock with a gun, and the man was found in the cell alone under a blanket.
the liberation process and its identity
When he stepped into the fresh air, the man looked confused. At the survey of the rebel who liberated him, he stated that he was Adel Ghurbal from the central Syrian city of Homs. He claimed to have been held in a cell for three months and added that this was the third prison in which he was in. He was not aware that the Assad regime had fallen. The man was held in a prison that was previously operated by the secret services of the Syrian Air Force.
New knowledge about Salama Mohammad Salama
A picture that CNN received on Monday suggests that the man is actually Salama Mohammad Salama, a lieutenant of the Air Force Secret Service unit of the Assad regime. A resident of the Bayada district in Homs handed CNN a photo that shows the man in a government office during his service. With facial recognition software, an agreement of over 99 percent was established with the man, which CNN met in the Damascus cell. The photo shows him at the desk, apparently in a military uniform. CNN does not publish the picture to protect the anonymity of the source.
allegations and ambiguities about his detention
While CNN gained further information about the freed -prisoner, several residents of Homs stated that the man of Salama, also known as Abu Hamza. They reported CNN that he was known for having managed the control points of the air force secret service unit in the city and that he was said to have a reputation for blackmail and harassment. It is unclear how or why Salama got into Damascus' prison, and CNN could not restore contact with him. Over the weekend, the Syrian factual test website Verify-Sy identified the man for the first time as a salama. They reported that he was detained less than a month because of a dispute over "profit sharing from blackmailed funds with a higher officer". CNN cannot check this claim independently.
The handover to the Red Cross and the uncertain future
The rebellious guards handed him over to the Syrian Red Half moon. The medical aid organization later published a picture of him on social media and explained that they had brought a freed back to relatives in Damascus. Salama's whereabouts are currently unknown.