Former Syrian prison boss gets 60 years for torturing inmates

Samir Ousman Alsheikh, 74, was sentenced to 60 years for torturing inmates while running Damascus's Adra prison from 2005 to 2008, plus immigration fraud for lying about it when he entered the U.S. in 2020. Judge Hernán Vera rejected a five-year request, calling the conduct 'unimaginably cruel,' while prosecutors said Alsheikh showed no remorse.

Testimony described inmates hung by handcuffs, beaten, and folded on a device that broke their spines, aimed at ordinary prisoners who supported or refused to harm the regime's political detainees. Alsheikh claimed he opposed Assad's crackdowns and feared for his life; his lawyer argued the court wasn't there to punish the regime itself.

Human rights groups called the case a rare instance of a foreign official facing U.S. torture charges for conduct committed entirely abroad, noting Alsheikh is the highest-ranking Assad official ever tried outside Syria.

The full dispatch is available from the source below.