A man filmed by CNN being released from a Damascus jail by anti-regime forces has been identified as a former Syrian regime intelligence officer, not an ordinary citizen as he had claimed, according to local residents.
CNN initially encountered the man while investigating leads on missing U.S. journalist Austin Tice. In a video report, chief international correspondent Clarissa Ward and her team, accompanied by a guard, discovered a padlocked cell inside a former Syrian air force intelligence prison. The guard blew off the lock, revealing a man alone under a blanket.
Appearing bewildered, the man identified himself as Adel Ghurbal from Homs. He claimed he had been imprisoned for three months and was unaware of the Assad regime’s collapse. He described his confinement as part of a series of detentions and did not provide further context about his arrest.
However, evidence obtained later contradicted his account. CNN acquired a photograph from a resident of the Bayada neighborhood in Homs that appears to show the man on duty in a government office, wearing military clothing. Facial recognition software later provided a match of more than 99% with the man found in the Damascus prison.
Multiple Homs residents identified him as Salama Mohammad Salama, also known as Abu Hamza, a lieutenant in the Assad regime’s Air Force Intelligence Directorate.
Residents accused Salama of managing regime checkpoints in Homs and alleged he had a reputation for extortion and harassment. The photograph, which CNN is withholding to protect its source, aligns with descriptions of Salama’s role within the regime.
It remains unclear how Salama ended up in the Damascus jail or the circumstances leading to his imprisonment. According to Verify-Sy, a Syrian fact-checking website that first identified him as Salama, he was detained for less than a month following a dispute with a higher-ranking officer over “profit-sharing from extorted funds.” CNN could not independently verify this claim.
After his release, rebel guards handed Salama over to the Syrian Red Crescent, which later posted a photo of him on social media. The organization stated they had facilitated his return to relatives in Damascus.
Attempts to reestablish contact with Salama have been unsuccessful and his current whereabouts remain unknown. The incident raises questions about the identities of prisoners and the shifting allegiances within the fractured Syrian conflict.
