U.S. court sentences Former Assad-era prison chief to 60 years
QAMISHLI, Syria (North Press) – A U.S. federal court in Los Angeles sentenced former Syrian government official Samir Ousman Alsheikh to 60 years in prison on Thursday after a jury convicted him of torturing prisoners at Adra Prison near Damascus and lying to U.S. immigration authorities.
Alsheikh, 74, headed Damascus Central Prison, commonly known as Adra Prison, from approximately 2005 to 2008 during the rule of former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
A federal jury convicted Alsheikh on March 16, 2026, on one count of conspiracy to commit torture, three counts of torture, one count of fraud involving an immigration document, and one count of attempted naturalization fraud.
According to evidence presented at trial, Alsheikh ordered prisoners to be taken to an underground section of Adra Prison known as Wing 13, where they were held in small isolation cells and subjected to torture.
Three former prisoners testified during the trial about being tortured and witnessing or hearing the abuse of other detainees. The U.S. Justice Department said victims were restrained on a device known as the “Flying Carpet,” suspended from the ceiling for hours or days, beaten while immobilized inside tires, and held in small cells under poor conditions.
The federal indictment alleges that Alsheikh ordered at least one prisoner to Wing 13 after the prisoner refused to carry out an order to physically harm a political dissident held at Adra. The indictment says the prisoner was forcibly folded on the “Flying Carpet,” beaten while suspended from the ceiling, and confined in an isolation cell.
Alsheikh was also convicted of concealing his past from U.S. immigration authorities. According to the Justice Department, he applied for a U.S. visa in 2018, entered the United States in 2020, and later applied for U.S. citizenship in 2023 while concealing his role in the torture of prisoners at Adra.
Following his tenure at Adra Prison, Alsheikh was appointed governor of Syria’s Deir Ez-Zor Governorate in 2011, according to U.S. prosecutors.
Alsheikh had been in federal custody since his arrest in July 2024. His defense attorneys said they would appeal the sentence, according to the Associated Press.
The U.S. Justice Department described Alsheikh as the highest-ranking former member of the Assad government to be tried and convicted in person outside Syria.