CNN confirms identity of freed Syrian prisoner as Assad intelligence officer

CNN has confirmed the identity of Salama Mohammad Salama, a former Syrian air force intelligence officer who appeared in a video report purporting to be a freed rebel prisoner.
Last week, the network came under intense scrutiny after releasing a video of its chief international correspondent, Clarissa Ward, accompanied by an armed rebel as they discovered a man locked away in a cell in a "secret" prison in Damascus.
In the video, Ward scours the prison, looking for US journalist Austin Tice, who was abducted in August 2012.
Ward stumbles on the “only locked cell" and finds a man hiding under a blanket who identifies himself as a “civilian” named Adel Gharbal, a rebel fighter from Homs.
He claimed he had been arrested three months earlier and transferred to the prison days before the toppling of President Bashar al-Assad.
After questions arose about the footage’s veracity, CNN launched an investigation into the man’s identity and confirmed that he had served as a lieutenant in Assad's Air Force Intelligence Directorate.