The “hidden prisoner” rescued from a Syrian prison by CNN was a member of Bashar al-Assad’s forces who tortured and killed civilians, a new report claims. The prisoner, identified as Salama Mohammad Salama, was a first lieutenant in the Syrian Air Force Intelligence under former President Assad’s regime, the Syrian fact-checking organization Verify-Sy reported.
Salama is accused of murdering civilians and being responsible for the detention and torture of young men in Homs on false charges, the organization claimed, citing local residents. Salama has also been accused of “theft, extortion, and coercing residents to become informants,” and of taking part in military operations on multiple fronts in Homs in 2014.
Prisoner in Disguise
Salama was found by CNN’s chief international correspondent, Clarissa Ward, lying under a blanket in a Damascus prison, where he identified himself as a “civilian father” named Adel Gharbal. CNN has since launched an investigation into his true identity.
The …