CNN’s Clarissa Ward Rambles For Nearly Four Minutes On Syria’s ‘Complexities’ After False Report
CNN’s Clarissa Ward confirmed Tuesday evening that her recent story on the release of a Syrian prisoner was, in fact, about a Bashar al-Assad regime torturer, discussing for nearly four minutes how the blunder from the…
CNN’s Clarissa Ward confirmed Tuesday evening that her recent story on the release of a Syrian prisoner was, in fact, about a Bashar al-Assad regime torturer, discussing for nearly four minutes how the blunder from the outlet highlighted the “complexities” of the Syrian war.
Ward and her team at the outlet published a video on Dec. 11 showing the group entering a prison allegedly “deep in the belly of the regime’s air force intelligence headquarters,” where they found a solo prisoner left in a concrete building. However, following the release of the footage, a Syrian fact-checking organization called Verify-Sy refuted the network’s claim that the prisoner found was a “rebel fighter” named “Adel Ghurbal.”
On “The Lead with Jake Tapper,”the host, Tapper, said Ward had “kept up” with the story after the network discovered they had been given a false identity, asking the international correspondent what further information she was aware of.
“Well, Jake, obviously from the minute we witnessed this astonishing moment, we’re trying to dig up more information on this prisoner,” Ward began. “We weren’t able to find anything with the name he gave us, but in the days after our report aired, CNN started talking to people in the city of Homs who told us that his real name is in fact Salama Mohammed Salama. He is reportedly a lieutenant in the Air Force Intelligence Directorate. He is also known as Abu Hamza.”
“He was known to run Air Force intelligence checkpoints in the city of Homs. He’s accused of extorting and harassing people. We have now been able to corroborate the information those residents gave us with a photograph of Salama, and it’s clear that far from being an ordinary guy as he presented himself to be, he was a part of Bashar al-Assad’s brutal regime who somehow found himself in prison,” Ward said.
Ward continued to explain how the outlet was still unaware of why the man was arrested, citing that Verify-Sy claimed he had an alleged dispute “over profit sharing of extorted funds with a higher-ranking officer.” Tapper then pressed the journalist about how the story highlights the “complexity with regards to Syria’s prisons and detention centers.”