Former Syrian officer Alsheikh handed 60-year US prison term for torture
A Los Angeles federal judge sentenced Samir Ousman Alsheikh to 60 years in prison for abuses at Adra Prison, a decision that lands as Syria navigates post-Assad sectarian tensions.
Former Syrian military official Samir Ousman Alsheikh has been sentenced to 60 years in a United States prison for torturing prisoners under the regime of former President Bashar al-Assad. US District Judge Hernan D Vera handed down the sentence on Thursday, following a jury verdict in March that found Alsheikh guilty of one count of conspiracy to commit torture and three counts of torture. The conviction stems from his tenure as the head of Adra Prison between roughly 2005 and 2008.
During the two-week trial, three victims provided testimony detailing the brutality of the detention facility. According to a press release from the US Department of Justice, prisoners were subjected to beatings while suspended from ceiling pipes for hours or days. One victim described the use of a device that folded bodies in half at the waist, with testimony indicating that Alsheikh personally stomped on the mechanism. Judge Vera described the conduct as "heinous, unimaginably cruel, and almost unspeakably violent and brutal."
The sentencing followed a contested legal process. US prosecutors had requested a minimum sentence of 80 years, arguing that Alsheikh ordered torture because he believed he would never be held accountable. In contrast, defence lawyers Nina Marino and Collin Cate argued for a five-year sentence, citing Alsheikh’s age of 74 and significant medical and cognitive conditions. Their legal team also noted that Alsheikh was willing to be deported to Syria, where the new government has sought to hold Assad-era security officials accountable.
Alsheikh’s path to the US court system began when he arrived in the country in 2020. Federal authorities arrested him at Los Angeles International Airport in July 2024. In addition to the torture charges, jurors convicted him of lying to US immigration authorities, fraudulently obtaining a green card, and attempting to naturalise as a US citizen. The Justice Department stated that Alsheikh had lied about his past when applying for citizenship.
The ruling arrives against a volatile backdrop in Syria. Al-Assad was ousted in a lightning rebel offensive in December 2024, ending a 14-year civil war, though sporadic violence continues. In March 2025, pro-Assad armed groups ambushed security forces on the Syrian coast, triggering sectarian revenge attacks and the massacre of hundreds of Alawite civilians. On the same day as Alsheikh’s sentencing, three individuals were sentenced in Aleppo in connection with that violence, including one pro-Assad member sentenced to death.
Human rights groups and the United Nations have long accused Syrian officials of widespread abuses in detention facilities, including arbitrary detention without informing families. Heith Janke, assistant director of the FBI’s criminal division, expressed gratitude to the victims who testified, describing the acts ordered by Alsheikh as "gruesome and disturbing."
