Syrian prisoner liberated with CNN's help linked to regime crimes PHOTO

A man initially portrayed as an ordinary citizen released from a Damascus jail by rebels has been identified as a former intelligence officer under Syria’s deposed regime, raising questions about his imprisonment and release.

CNN, while investigating leads on missing US journalist Austin Tice, came across the man during a visit to a Damascus jail. Chief international correspondent Clarissa Ward and her team, accompanied by a rebel guard, filmed the discovery. The team found the man alone in a padlocked cell, wrapped in a blanket.

Upon his release, the man, who identified himself as Adel Ghurbal from Homs, appeared disoriented. He claimed he had been imprisoned for three months, unaware that the Assad regime had fallen. The jail, formerly run by the Syrian Air Force Intelligence Directorate, had been abandoned following the regime’s collapse.

However, CNN later obtained evidence suggesting the man’s true identity as Salama Mohammad Salama, also known as Abu Hamza, a lieutenant in the Assad regime’s Air Force Intelligence Directorate. A photograph from a resident of Homs allegedly shows Salama in military attire at a government office. Facial recognition software matched the photo with more than 99 per cent accuracy to the man found in the jail.

Residents in Homs corroborated this identification, describing Salama as a notorious figure who ran Air Force Intelligence checkpoints and engaged in extortion and harassment. It remains unclear why Salama was imprisoned in Damascus. Verify-Sy, a Syrian fact-checking website, claimed he had been jailed for less than a month over a dispute involving profits from extorted funds with a superior officer. CNN has not independently verified this claim.

After his release, Salama was handed over to the Syrian Red Crescent, which later posted a picture of him on social media, stating he had been reunited with relatives in Damascus. His current whereabouts remain unknown.

By Tamilla Hasanova