It is now thought that the “prisoner” found by a CNN television crew by themselves in one of Bashar al-Assad’s prison cells was one of the torturers of the former Syrian president.
According to Knewz.com, the “captured” man revealed his identity to Clarissa Ward and her team during a news program as Adel Gharbal.
fact-checking website Verify-Sy criticized Gharbal’s appearance and pointed out that the man did not act like he had been taken captive.
“Despite the alleged harsh treatment of detainees in secret prisons, Gharbal appeared clean, well-groomed, and physically healthy, with no visible injuries or signs of torture,” the website, which is a part of Poynter’s International Fact-Checking Network, stated.
“An incongruous portrayal” of someone who was supposedly kept “in solitary confinement in the dark for 90 days” was what they said the entire scene was.
Gharbal said on the program that he was a parent from Homs who had spent three months imprisoned. Gharbal looked trembling and about to cry as Ward clutched his hand.
The fact-checking website pointed out that when the man gazed up at the sky, he did not blink or flinch, which is strange behavior for someone who has been kept in the dark for months. The man was then brought into the sunshine by the network’s team.
After talking to residents of Homs, the website discovered that the man’s true name is Salama Mohammad Salama, also known as Abu Hamza. They assert that he served under Assad’s ruthless rule as a first lieutenant in the Syrian Air Force Intelligence.
The guy was accused of “theft, extortion, and coercing residents into becoming informants” by Verify-Sy, which claims that he was “frequently stationed at a checkpoint in the area’s western entrance, infamous for its abuses.”
Salama is accused by locals of killing civilians and torturing and holding young men in the city on false pretenses.
“Many were targeted simply for refusing to pay bribes, rejecting cooperation or even for arbitrary reasons like their appearance,” the website stated.
According to locals, Salama was imprisoned for a disagreement with a higher-ranking officer more than a month before the now-viral CNN tape.
In an effort to save his life, he has apparently been attempting to win sympathy by saying he was “forced” into doing his crimes, according to locals. He also allegedly changed his phone number and deactivated his social media accounts in order to remove any indication that he was associated with Assad’s government.
“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 spokesman said in response to the severe criticism directed at the network’s footage, indicating that they are sticking to their story.
They went on: “The incidents happened exactly as they are shown in our movie.
“The guard, a Syrian rebel, made the choice to free the prisoner who was the subject of our article. We accurately attributed the events as they happened, including the prisoner’s statements to us.
The spokeswoman acknowledged that the “prisoner” might not have been telling the truth about who he really was.
“We are aware that he might have provided a fraudulent identification, and we have since been looking into his background. We’re keeping up our coverage of this and the broader story,” they continued.
Rebel soldiers captured the horrific Sednaya Military Prison, also known as the “Human Slaughterhouse,” after toppling Assad.
The nightmare prison was “carefully designed to humiliate, degrade, sicken, starve, and ultimately kill those trapped inside,” according to survivors.
Inmates claim that as a means of punishment and dehumanization, guards would beat and torment them, causing some to become disabled, suffer lifelong harm, and in some cases, die.
Since the start of the civil war in 2011, millions of Syrians have escaped Assad’s violent and deadly government. Assad is said to have fled to Moscow after being deposed because Vladimir Putin gave him a place to stay.
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