CNN Admits Syrian Prisoner's 'False Identity' in Clarissa Ward Report

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Bashar al-Assad
Above: Families continue to wait inside and outside Sednaya Prison in Damascus, Syria on Dec. 10, 2024. Image copyright: Emin Sansar/Contributor/Anadolu via Getty Images

The Facts

  • CNN on Monday confirmed that it had been misled by a man who was discovered and freed from Sednaya prison outside Damascus last week by chief international correspondent Clarissa Ward, admitting he wasn't a civilian but an intelligence officer.

  • A CNN segment, which aired on Dec. 12, showed the man identifying himself as Adel Gharbal from Homs, claiming he had been imprisoned in solitary confinement for three months without knowledge that anti-government forces had captured Damascus and taken over most of the country.

  • However, the Syrian fact-checking organization Verify-Sy — part of Poynter's International Fact-Checking Network — conducted an investigation into the man's identity through public records and local interviews.

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The Spin

Pro-establishment narrative

This rescue represented an authentic discovery of a prisoner forgotten in Assad's notorious prison system; events unfolded naturally and without prior planning, demonstrating the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Syria. Though the man's identity may have been forged, this has no bearing on the conditions in Assad's torture dungeons that have been thoroughly documented.

The New Republic

Establishment-critical narrative

This CNN segment was almost certainly staged, given the prisoner's well-groomed appearance, lack of physical reaction to sunlight, and subsequent identification as a former regime official attempting to rehabilitate his image following Assad's fall. This case demonstrates CNN's complete lack of journalistic standards and an attempt to demonize the former Syrian government and justify Western military intervention.

Grayzone

Metaculus Prediction

Public Figures

Bashar al-Assad

Establishment split

CRITICAL

PRO