Inspectors from the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons concluded in a report released on March 1 that a toxic chemical containing chlorine was used in an attack. The team was not mandated to assign blame for who used the toxic chemical.
However, the Syrian government and its Russian allies have rejected the findings, saying they believe the incident was staged by rebels and no attack had taken place.
On Saturday, anti-secrecy group Wikileaks published an internal email to the former chief of staff at the OPCW in which an unidentified inspector described a report as having been edited to appear more conclusive than the inspectors’ findings.
“I am requesting that the fact-finding report be released in its entirety as I fear this redacted version no longer reflects the work of the team,” the inspector wrote. An OPCW source told Reuters the June 22, 2018 email was genuine.
OPCW chief Fernandon Arias said the body stands by the findings it published in March this year.
Criticism of the OPCW’s findings over the incident have been circulating since reports on pro-Russian and pro-Syrian media outlets cited another leaked internal document by a former OPCW employee named Ian Henderson in May.
Henderson, who helped the OPCW’s team collect samples during a field mission to Douma, wrote that two cylinders found at the scene were most likely placed there rather than being dropped from the air.