A former Syrian military official has been sentenced to 60 years in a United States prison for torturing prisoners during the regime of former President Bashar al-Assad. Samir Ousman Alsheikh was sentenced by a federal judge in Los Angeles on Thursday after a jury found him guilty in March of one count of conspiracy to commit torture and three counts of torture while overseeing Syria's Adra Prison from approximately 2005 to 2008.
The judge described Alsheikh's conduct as "heinous, unimaginably cruel, and almost unspeakably violent and brutal" before announcing the sentence. Human rights organizations and the United Nations have accused Syrian government officials of widespread abuses in detention facilities, including torture and arbitrary detention of thousands of individuals, often without notifying their families.
US prosecutors stated that Alsheikh, in an effort to suppress political dissent, sent certain prisoners to a section of Adra where they were held in small isolation cells and subjected to torture. During the two-week trial, three victims testified about beatings while suspended from pipes for extended periods and the use of a device that bent their bodies at the waist. One victim reported that Alsheikh stomped on the device while it was in use.
Prosecutors noted in a sentencing memo that Alsheikh was aware of the wrongfulness of his actions but proceeded to order and participate in the torture because he believed he would not face consequences. The memo included statements from victims, including Nidal Shikhani, who recalled hearing the screams of others pleading for mercy.
Prosecutors requested a minimum sentence of 80 years, while Alsheikh's defense attorneys argued for a five-year sentence, citing his age of 74 and significant medical issues. They also mentioned his willingness to be deported to Syria, where a new government has aimed to hold accountable officials from the Assad era.
Alsheikh entered the US in 2020 and applied for citizenship, but the Justice Department stated he provided false information regarding his past. He was arrested at Los Angeles International Airport in July 2024. In addition to the torture charges, jurors convicted him of lying to US immigration authorities and fraudulently obtaining a green card.
Heith Janke, assistant director of the FBI’s criminal division, expressed gratitude to the victims who testified, stating, "The acts Alsheikh ordered and directly participated in are gruesome and disturbing."
Bashar al-Assad was ousted in December 2024 during a rebel offensive, ending a 14-year civil war, though violence has persisted in the country. On the same day as Alsheikh's sentencing, three individuals were sentenced in Aleppo for their involvement in violence, including one sentenced to death and another to life in prison for their roles in sectarian attacks.