Video of Palestinian prisoner circulates as if Syrian prisoner

Accounts on X published a video showing the moment a family meets their son, claiming that the video shows a prisoner released from Syrian prisons meeting his family, “By God Almighty, today is like a holiday, thank God for your safety, thank God for the victory, and may God compensate you and may the spirit and beauty of your country, Syria, return.” 

Kashif verified the video via Google Image tool and found that the video is old and incorrectly linked to Syrian detainees. The video shows the release of Palestinian prisoner Othman Ziada from Israeli occupation prisons on 28/1/2018. 

Watan News Agency published the video on Facebook on 1/28/2018, accompanied by the following description: “A touching moment as the mother of prisoner Othman Ziada receives her son after his release. The prisoner is from the town of Beit Lilo, Ramallah, and spent 12 years in the occupation’s prisons.”

Al-Quds newspaper also published the same video on Facebook on 28/1/2018, with the following caption: “The moment mother of prisoner Othman Ziada met him after 12 years spent in Israeli occupation prisons.” 

The opposition factions announced on Wednesday 27/11/2024 the start of a military operation called “Deterrence of Aggression.” On Sunday 8/12/2024, they announced in a statement broadcasted on state television the liberation of Damascus and the overthrow of President Bashar al-Assad’s 24-year rule. The opposition added that all detainees had been released.

Many videos have spread on social media documenting the release of detainees from Sednaya prison. Al Jazeera channel stated, quoting its correspondent, that the Syrian opposition “succeeded in taking control of Sednaya prison and releasing thousands of detainees from the upper floors, but the three lower floors, known as the Red Prison, the White Prison, and the Yellow Prison, are still isolated from the outside, while the detainees there face tragic conditions.”