Former Syrian military officer Samir Ousman Alsheikh has been sentenced to 60 years in prison in the United States for torturing prisoners while serving as the head of Syria’s notorious Adra Prison under former President Bashar al-Assad.
A federal judge in Los Angeles handed down the sentence on Thursday, after a US jury convicted Alsheikh in March on one count of conspiracy to commit torture and three counts of torture committed between approximately 2005 and 2008.
US prosecutors said Alsheikh ordered and participated in the torture of prisoners suspected of opposing the Assad government. During the trial, victims testified that they were beaten while being suspended from ceiling pipes and subjected to a device that folded their bodies in half.
The US Justice Department had requested a minimum sentence of 80 years, while Alsheikh’s lawyers asked for five years, citing his age of 74 and reported medical and cognitive conditions.
Alsheikh moved to the United States in 2020 and later applied for citizenship. Authorities arrested him at Los Angeles International Airport in July 2024 after accusing him of lying about his past to immigration officials.
He was also convicted of immigration-related offences, including fraudulently obtaining a green card and attempting to become a US citizen through false information.
The former officer's conviction comes amid continuing efforts to hold officials from the Assad era accountable for alleged abuses committed during Syria's long civil war. Bashar al-Assad was ousted in December 2024 following a rebel offensive.
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