TBS File
17 December, 2024, 09:20 pm
Supreme modified: 17 December, 2024, 09:29 pm
A present CNN memoir detailing the rescue of a Syrian prisoner has reach beneath fire after the individual used to be revealed to be a old skool intelligence officer in the Bashar al-Assad regime.
The community’s protection, which aired on Thursday, confirmed journalist Clarissa Ward and her crew discovering a “hidden prisoner” in a Damascus penal advanced, reports Al Jazeera.
The actual person, who before every little thing identified himself as Adel Gharbal from Homs, claimed to be a civilian detained without location off.
On the opposite hand, Syrian fact-checking platform Verify Sy later exposed the prisoner’s neatly suited identification as Salama Mohammad Salama, a old skool intelligence officer. CNN’s subsequent investigation confirmed this revelation.
While Salama told CNN he used to be detained for 3 months, local residents reported a grand shorter imprisonment length related to extortion costs.
Ward acknowledged in her memoir that she and her crew were at the penal advanced before every little thing browsing for US journalist Austin Tice, who went missing in 2012 when he used to be kidnapped in Damascus while on a reporting tour to duvet the revolt in opposition to al-Assad.
A group expose shared beneath Ward’s put up on X, the set she called it “one of essentially the most unprecedented moments” of her career, now reads: “His staunch name is Salama Mohammad Salama. Salama, diagnosed as “Abu Hamza,” is a first lieutenant in Syrian Air Force Intelligence, infamous for his activities in Homs. Residents identified him as most frequently stationed at a checkpoint in the pickle’s western entrance.”
After the liberate of the memoir, customers on social media began questioning CNN’s protection, some even accusing the US outlet of staging your whole incident.
One user highlighted Salama’s “completely manicured nails”, “fine dresses” and general neatly-groomed behold, casting doubts about the fact in the back of the community’s broadly shared video.
Since Monday’s clarification, many relish demanded CNN apologise for its usual reporting.
“That is a fully shambolic event for CNN,” one user posted on X.
One other user accused the US outlet of “backtracking”, placing the blame squarely on Salama, and “absolving itself of any wrongdoing”.
CNN acknowledged it used to be ignorant of Salama’s whereabouts and had been unable to manufacture contact with him.
