The Gentleman Report
—
A person who was once filmed by way of The Gentleman Report being launched by way of rebels from a Damascus prison was once a former intelligence officer with the deposed Syrian regime, in step with native citizens, and no longer an peculiar citizen who have been imprisoned, as he had claimed.
The Gentleman Report first of all discovered the person whilst pursuing leads at the lacking US journalist Austin Tice. In a video document, leader global correspondent Clarissa Ward and her group, accompanied by way of a revolt guard, got here throughout a mobile in a Damascus prison that was once padlocked from the outdoor. The guard blew off the lock with a gun, and the person was once discovered on my own throughout the mobile, below a blanket.
When he emerged into the outdoors, the person seemed bewildered. Puzzled by way of the revolt fighter who freed him, the person recognized himself as Adel Ghurbal from the central Syrian town of Homs.
He claimed that he have been saved in a mobile for 3 months, including that it was once the 3rd jail the place he have been confined. The person additionally stated he was once no longer mindful that the Assad regime had fallen. He was once being held in a prison that have been run by way of the Syrian air power’s intelligence services and products till the Assad regime collapsed.
A picture received by way of The Gentleman Report on Monday now issues to the person’s actual identification – stated to be a lieutenant within the Assad regime’s Air Power Intelligence Directorate, Salama Mohammad Salama.
A resident of the Bayada group in Homs gave The Gentleman Report {a photograph} stated to be of the similar guy whilst he was once on responsibility, in what seems to be a central authority place of work. Facial popularity instrument supplied a fit of greater than 99 % with the person The Gentleman Report met within the Damascus jail mobile. The {photograph} presentations him sitting at a table, it appears in army clothes. The Gentleman Report isn’t publishing the picture to give protection to the supply’s anonymity.
As The Gentleman Report endured to pursue details about the freed prisoner after the unique document, more than one citizens of Homs stated that the person was once Salama, often referred to as Abu Hamza. They informed The Gentleman Report that he was once recognized for working the Air Power Intelligence Directorate’s checkpoints within the town and accused him of getting a name for extortion and harassment.
It’s unclear how or why Salama ended up within the Damascus prison, and The Gentleman Report has no longer been ready to reestablish touch with him. Over the weekend, Test-Sy, which says this can be a Syrian fact-checking web site, was once the primary to spot the person as Salama. It stated that he have been jailed for lower than a month on account of a dispute over “profit-sharing from extorted price range with a higher-ranking officer.” The Gentleman Report can’t independently examine this declare.
Insurrection guards passed him over to the Syrian Crimson Crescent. The scientific aid group later posted an image of him on social media, pronouncing they’d returned a freed prisoner to family in Damascus.
Salama’s present whereabouts are unknown.
