Former Syrian prison chief gets 60-year sentence

A US federal court in Los Angeles sentenced a former Syrian government official who ran one of the country’s most infamous prisons to 60 years in prison on Thursday. This is the most significant punishment handed to an official of ousted president Bashar al-Assad’s regime by a foreign court and to a defendant present in person.

Samir Ousman al-Sheikh served as the head of the Adra prison, on the outskirts of Damascus, between 2005 and 2008. During this time, he oversaw an underground “punishment wing,” known as “Wing 13.” The prison held regime opponents who were interrogated and tortured while al-Sheikh watched through surveillance cameras.

A federal jury convicted al-Sheikh last March of having tortured prisoners and then lying about it in US immigration forms. Hernan D Vera, a US district judge, described the conduct as “heinous, unimaginably cruel and almost unspeakably violent and brutal” before delivering the sentence.

Al-Sheikh, 74, also served as governor of Syria’s Deir Ez-Zour province in 2011. This was a period of violent regime crackdowns against protesters. He moved to the United States in 2020, obtained a green card, and applied for US citizenship. He was arrested in July 2024 at Los Angeles international airport on immigration fraud charges. Prosecutors later added four torture-related charges.

He is the first al-Assad regime official to go to trial in the US and the highest ranking regime official to be tried anywhere in the world in person. Al-Assad was ousted by a lightning rebel offensive in December 2024 which toppled the regime in just 11 days.

Since then, Syria’s new government has held a number of in absentia trials for former regime officials in connection to crimes committed during the country’s years-long civil war. The conflict killed about half a million people and displaced half the country’s prewar population of 23 million. In August, a court sentenced al-Assad and his brother Maher to death for crimes against humanity and war crimes, but the two men have been in Moscow since the regime’s collapse.

Other factions in Syria’s civil war have also been accused of abuse of detainees, including insurgent groups and the US-backed, Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces.

This marks one of only five people to be prosecuted under the extraterritorial Torture Act, which allows the US government to prosecute individuals physically present in the US over acts of torture committed abroad. The Justice Department’s criminal division stated that this sentence sends a clear message: “Human rights violators who come to the United States will receive no safe harbor here. We will find them, and they will be prosecuted and punished for their heinous crimes.”

Prosecutors had asked the court for a minimum sentence of 80 years. Al-Sheikh’s attorneys had called for a five-year sentence, citing his poor health and noting that he was willing to be deported to Syria.

During al-Sheikh’s nine-day trial, several victims and witnesses testified about the abuse they suffered at Adra prison. They described guards folding prisoners into car tires, restraining and beating them. Some were cuffed by their wrists to pipes on the ceiling and beaten with cables. Others were left suspended for extended periods of time.

Some victims testified that they were placed on a device known as a “magic carpet” or “flying carpet.” This device consisted of two large wooden panels with hinges in the middle. Guards strapped prisoners to the panels and forced them together, which caused excruciating pain. One victim recalled al-Sheikh himself stomping on the device.

Another witness testified he was subjected to the “magic carpet” as punishment for writing a letter of support to a political prisoner. He was also forced to wear a red jumpsuit assigned to prisoners designated for execution. This led him to believe he was going to die.

Several victims and witnesses submitted written and video testimonies to the court ahead of the sentencing. They spoke of being haunted and traumatized by their experiences two decades later. One man, Nidal Shikhani, said he still hears the screams of others begging for mercy.

Sultan Abdul Malek said he still lives in the prison of his memory 20 years later. He suffers from sudden panic attacks and constant anxiety. His brother, Khaled Abdul Malek, spoke of the physical and psychological scars he was left with. He has chronic back pain and mobility problems.

His brother said his son Battal asks if he could ride his back. He said he must tell his son he is no longer strong enough to carry him. He spoke with a heart wrung with pain. Several witnesses also submitted testimony on al-Sheikh’s behalf, speaking about his age and frailty as they asked the court for leniency.

More than 50 people sent letters of support to the court. His attorneys described him as “a person of integrity, compassion, and generosity to his family and community.”