A former Syrian prison boss has been sentenced to 60 years in prison for torturing inmates at Damascus Central Prison between 2005 and 2008.

Samir Ousman Alsheikh, 74, was convicted in March of conspiracy to commit torture and three counts of torture. He was also convicted of immigration fraud and attempted naturalization fraud for lying about his role in prisoner abuse when he entered the U.S. in 2020.

Former inmates describe brutal treatment

U.S. District Judge Hernán Vera, a Joe Biden appointee, cited the “utter reprehensibility” of Alsheikh’s crimes. Vera rejected Alsheikh’s request for a five-year sentence, followed by deportation to Syria.

The judge fell short of the 80-year sentence sought by the Justice Department, citing Alsheikh’s age, medical issues, and letters from family and friends praising his character.

“The conduct was heinous, unimaginably cruel and unspeakably violent and brutal,” Vera said.

During the two-week trial in downtown Los Angeles, former inmates testified that Alsheikh ordered them to Wing 13, the prison’s punishment wing.

There, they said, they were held in tiny isolation cells, hung from ceilings with handcuffs, beaten, and folded in half on a “magic carpet” that broke their spines.

Alsheikh claims he opposed Assad regime

Alsheikh, through an interpreter, told the judge he had clashed with the Bashar al-Assad regime over the treatment of political opponents. He claimed he feared for his life due to his reluctance to crack down on the opposition.

“I was under a lot of pressure and harassment of that regime,” Alsheikh said. “I ignored it because I wanted to protect my family.”

His attorney, Nina Marino, argued that the judge’s role was not to punish the Assad regime.

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However, Assistant U.S. Attorney Joshua Mausner countered that Alsheikh had spent a lifetime terrorizing people to support the regime. “There’s not an ounce of remorse,” Mausner said. “The defendant continues to have no regard for the suffering he caused.”

Landmark case for international justice

The trial, where a foreign official faced torture charges for actions outside the U.S., was closely watched by international human rights groups and legal observers from Loyola Law School.

The Syrian Emergency Task Force stated, “Today’s sentence marks an important milestone in the pursuit of justice for the Syrian people and for all victims of the Assad regime.”

They noted that Alsheikh is the highest-ranking Assad official ever arrested and tried outside Syria.

Alsheikh’s defense claimed that Adra Prison was a civil facility where inmates were relatively well-treated, especially before Syria’s civil war. They argued that the regime was still trying to maintain the pretense of respecting prisoners’ rights at that time.

Three former prisoners testified that they were tortured on Alsheikh’s orders, with one claiming Alsheikh personally participated. These witnesses were ordinary Syrians, not the prominent political prisoners who received more lenient treatment to bolster Assad’s image in the West.

They told the jury they were punished for supporting political prisoners or refusing Alsheikh’s orders to harm them.

Nedal Shikhani, one of the witnesses, said he was sent to Wing 13 for writing a letter supporting a political prisoner. “Because of this letter, people were scared of me,” he testified. “Nobody would accept me to sit with them — dogs were treated better than me.”

After his time as prison head, Assad recalled Alsheikh in 2011 to serve as governor of Deir Ez-Zor province, an oil-rich region key for regime revenue.