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INPRIMATU
Media fraud
CNN video releasing the Syrian prisoner: allegations of fraud
  • The video shows how journalist Clarissa Ward, the international leader of CNN, enters a secret Syrian jail and records the moment a prisoner is released.
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The images show how Clarissa Ward and his recording equipment move through the prison aisles and suddenly come across a cell that was still closed. They came in and saw that there was somebody under a blanket. After touching the armed guards with his rifle, the prisoner rises frightened and shouts: "I'm civil, I'm civil," and asks visitors not to hurt.

According to CNN, the prisoner is Adel Gharbal, a citizen of the city of Homs who had been in the cell for three months without seeing sunlight. A Syrian rebel traveling with the band was on guard in jail and was released by order of the judge, according to the chain. Ward, who had just been released, gave him water and drove it out.

CNN investigates your video

Ward hung on the social network X those and other scenes he described. He explained that those moments lived in prison were “the most extraordinary moments of his 20-year journalism career.”

Praise for the video and the journalist soon began, but allegations of scam spread quickly across the network. Among the latter is the complaint lodged by the Syrian website Verfy Sy, which has published a video on Twitter. The website has investigated the prisoner and first said it is not Adel Gharbal but Salama Mohammad Salama, Syrian Air Force Officer.

According to those who know him, Homs has been responsible for several checkpoints in the city and has become famous for the many cases of detention, torture and corruption. In particular, the 25-year-old detainee ended up in prison as a result of his discrepancies with a leader in one of them. Verify Sy has also checked how his phone number changed after the fall of Damascus and how he canceled his social networks. The website assures that it has recordings of witnesses that corroborate all this, but that it has not published them to protect them.

According to Verify Sy, many of the things that the recordings show are very strange. On the one hand, the fake name; on the other hand, Ward doesn't explain why that prisoner is the only one in jail. Furthermore, they insist that for three months without sun and in this type of jails it is seen quite well, especially in view of the unfortunate state in which the majority of prisoners are found.

The authors of the study have also stressed that it is surprising that he leaves the street and does not harm himself when the prisoner lifts his eyes and does not see a sun in three months. Ward has commented that the events inside the prison occurred as seen in the image, and CNN has announced that it is investigating what happened.

Videos such as Al Jazeera or Middle East Eye, which have captured the information, have also been echoed.