The network confirmed on Monday that the man gave a false identity. CNN confirmed Monday evening that it was misled by a man who was freed from a Syrian prison last week while the network’s cameras were rolling.

In a dramatic viral video, CNN correspondent Clarissa Ward, looking for signs of captured US journalist Austin Tice in a Syrian prison, instead found a man huddled under a blanket who claimed he'd been imprisoned for months and had no idea President Bashar al-Assad's regime had collapsed.

CNN acknowledged this week it had been misled by a man purporting to be a Syrian prisoner but who was, in fact, a former intelligence officer under the Assad regime. The outlet said in a report