LOS ANGELES
A former Syrian prison chief and provincial governor under the regime of Bashar al-Assad was convicted by a federal jury of torturing detainees and lying to U.S. immigration authorities to gain entry and seek citizenship, prosecutors said.
Samir Ousman Alsheikh, 73, formerly of Lexington, South Carolina, was found guilty following a nine-day federal trial of one count of conspiracy to commit torture, three counts of torture, immigration document fraud, and attempted naturalization fraud.
Prosecutors said Alsheikh served as a brigadier general in charge of Damascus Central Prison (Adra Prison) from 2005 to 2008, where he ordered, directed, and personally participated in the torture of political detainees.
Evidence showed prisoners were sent to a notorious section known as “Wing 13,” where they were held in isolation and subjected to severe physical and psychological abuse.
Victims testified they were suspended by their wrists from ceilings and beaten with cables, sometimes for days. Others described being tortured on devices known as the “Magic Carpet,” which bent victims’ bodies to cause extreme pain and injury. One victim said Alsheikh personally stepped on the device during torture.
Following his prison tenure, Alsheikh became governor of Deir Ez-Zour province in 2011. Prosecutors said he later concealed his role in human rights abuses when applying for a U.S. visa in 2018, entering the country in 2020, and seeking citizenship.
Authorities arrested him in July 2024, and he has remained in federal custody in Los Angeles since then.
Federal officials said the case underscores that the United States “is not a refuge for human rights abusers.”
Alsheikh now faces up to 20 years in prison on each torture-related count and up to 10 years on each immigration fraud charge. U.S. District Judge Hernán D. Vera will set sentencing at a later date.