CNN Correspondent Successfully Frees War Criminal

CNN chief international correspondent Clarissa Ward accidentally freed Salama Mohammad Salama while searching for a missing journalist in Damascus.

A CNN reporter searching for a missing American journalist in Damascus ended up freeing a notorious military intelligence officer known for his participation in extortion, murder, and torture.

Clarissa Ward, CNN’s chief international correspondent, freed Syrian intelligence official Salama Mohammad Salama, who independent fact-checkers Verify-sy found was, “notorious for his activities in Homs [Syria],” from a prison inside Air Force intelligence headquarters while searching for missing American journalist Austin Tice.

The truth came out only when the respected fact-checkers investigated the nearly eight-minute long, excruciatingly bizarre segment on CNN’s, “The Lead With Jake Tapper,” discovering that the person who told CNN his name was, “Adel Gharbal,” was actually Salama.

According to the story, Salama “participated in military operations on several fronts in Homs in 2014, killed civilians, and was responsible for detaining and torturing numerous young men in the city.” The bizarre segment features correspondent Ward breathlessly repeating, “you’re ok…you’re ok,” as Salama, hiding under a blanket after a prison guard allegedly, “shoots the lock off the cell door,” tells her his story.

According to journalists at Verify-sy, contrary to the story of “Adel Gharbal,” who stated that intelligence agents, “took him from his home and began interrogating him about his phone,” he was actually imprisoned for less than a month “due to a dispute over profit-sharing from extorted funds with a higher-ranking officer.”

In a statement, CNN advised this publication, “We have subsequently been investigating his background and are aware that he may have given a false identity. We are continuing our reporting into this.”

Salama’s whereabouts are unknown at this time.

This publication has reached out to CNN for comment.

12/16/24 - updated with a comment from CNN.