The US Department of Justice announced that a former Syrian official who served as a prison director and governor under the former Syrian regime has been sentenced to 60 years in prison on charges of torture and lying to US immigration officials.
The Justice Department said in a statement on Thursday, September 17, that Samir Othman al-Sheikh, 74, had been sentenced after holding several positions under the former Syrian regime, including director of Damascus Central Prison, known as Adra Prison, governor of Deir Ezzor (eastern Syria), and head of the Political Security branch in Rural Damascus.
The Justice Department statement said a jury convicted al-Sheikh last March on charges including conspiracy to commit torture, three counts of torture, one count of visa fraud, and one count of attempted naturalization fraud.
Evidence presented during the trial showed that al-Sheikh ordered the torture of prisoners and personally participated in torture while serving as head of Adra Prison.
According to the US Justice Department, al-Sheikh committed “egregious” human rights abuses in Syria, including practices intended to silence political opposition, and lied about his past to gain entry to the United States in 2020.
“Flying Carpet” and the Green Card
Three of al-Sheikh’s victims testified at the trial about being personally subjected to torture and seeing and hearing other prisoners being tortured, according to the statement.
The torture methods included restraining victims on a device known locally as the “flying carpet,” which forcibly bends their bodies at the waist, chaining them to the ceiling and suspending them for hours or days, “brutally” beating them while they were held inside car tires, and confining them in cramped, “filthy,” cold and damp cells infested with insects and vermin.
According to evidence presented at the trial, when two prisoners refused al-Sheikh’s orders to harm political prisoners who were also being held at Adra Prison, and after prison guards intercepted a message of support written by a third prisoner to a political detainee, al-Sheikh ordered the prisoners transferred to an underground section of the prison known as “Wing 13,” where they were later tortured.
Evidence presented during the trial also established that al-Sheikh lied to US immigration authorities about his background to obtain a permanent resident card, known as a Green Card, and later made false statements in his application for US citizenship.
Who Is al-Sheikh?
According to Assistant Attorney General A. Tysen Duva of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, al-Sheikh is the highest-ranking former Assad regime official to be tried and convicted in person outside Syria.
Al-Sheikh entered the United States in 2020 and has remained in custody since his arrest in July 2024, according to the US Justice Department statement.
Al-Sheikh rose through positions and ranks within Syria’s Interior Ministry. He served as director of Adra Prison from 2005 to 2008, later headed the Political Security branch in Rural Damascus, and retired with the rank of brigadier general, according to the Syrian Memory website.
After the Syrian revolution began, he was appointed governor of Deir Ezzor on July 24, 2011, and was dismissed from the position on January 15, 2013, according to Syrian Memory.
His appointment coincided with the start of popular protests in Deir Ezzor governorate, where he was a member of the governorate’s security committee, according to the Syrian Network for Human Rights.
The committee was responsible for military and security decisions in the governorate, with its members playing an executive role as well as participating in decision-making. Al-Sheikh also coordinated with security branches responsible for arrests and raids in the governorate.
During his tenure as governor, Syrian regime army forces entered Deir Ezzor city in August 2011 to suppress popular protests there.
According to the Syrian Network for Human Rights, 3,933 civilians were killed during al-Sheikh’s time in Deir Ezzor by former regime forces and allied militias, including 312 children and 261 women. The victims also included 14 medical workers and 13 media workers.
The network documented 659 cases of arrest, including 31 children and 19 women, at Syrian regime detention centers in the governorate. Of those detained, 47 were released while 612 remained in custody, including 508 who later became forcibly disappeared.
According to testimonies from survivors of detention in Deir Ezzor, detainees were often gathered at the governorate building before being transferred to detention centers, the network said.
Al-Sheikh was responsible for several massacres in Deir Ezzor, including the al-Joura and al-Qusour massacres, in which more than 450 civilians were killed.
Al-Sheikh is originally from Idlib city (northwestern Syria), according to the network.
He later left for the United States after receiving approval for a visa following an application submitted by his wife, who holds US citizenship.