A man filmed by CNN being released from a Damascus jail by Syrian rebels has been identified by local residents as a former intelligence officer for the deposed Syrian regime, contradicting his claim of being an ordinary citizen who had been imprisoned.  

CNN had come across the person while looking into the disappearance of U.S. journalist Austin Tice. In a video report, chief international correspondent Clarissa Ward and her team, accompanied by a rebel guard, encountered a padlocked cell in the Syrian capital. Inside, they found a man under a blanket. He appeared disoriented upon stepping outside, and identified himself as Adel Ghurbal from Homs.  

An image obtained by CNN on Monday, December 16, has revealed the man’s true identity as Salama Mohammad Salama, a lieutenant in the Assad regime’s Air Force Intelligence Directorate.

He had earlier claimed that he had been confined in the cell for three months, marking it as the third prison where he had been detained. The man also claimed he was unaware of the fall of the Assad regime. He was being held in a facility previously operated by the Syrian air force’s intelligence services before the regime’s collapse.

CNN has now received an image, from a resident of the Bayada neighborhood in Homs, of the same man while he was on duty in a government office. In its report, CNN has said that facial recognition software showed over 99 per cent match between the rescued man and the one in the picture.

The image has not been published by CNN to protect the anonymity of their source.

As CNN continued investigating the freed prisoner following its initial report, several residents of Homs identified the man as Salama, also known as Abu Hamza. They alleged that he was notorious for overseeing the Air Force Intelligence Directorate’s checkpoints in the city and accused him of engaging in extortion and harassment.

At the moment, the whereabouts of Salama are unknown.