Former Syrian Official Convicted of Torture Under Assad Faces Sentencing in the US – WTOP News
Jurors also found Samir Ousman Alsheikh guilty of immigration fraud, and prosecutors are seeking at least 80 years in prison.
- A federal judge in Los Angeles is scheduled to sentence former Syrian official Samir Ousman Alsheikh on Thursday after a jury convicted him of conspiracy to commit torture and three counts of torture.
- While in charge of Syria's Adra Prison from roughly 2005 to 2008, Alsheikh ordered torture to quash political dissent against the regime of President Bashar Assad, sending prisoners to isolation cells.
- At the two-week trial, three victims recounted beatings while suspended from pipes on the ceiling and the use of a device that folded their bodies in half at the waist; one witness testified Alsheikh stomped on the device.
- Prosecutors asked U.S. District Judge Hernan Vera for a minimum 80-year sentence, citing victim Nidal Shikhani who said he can still hear the screams of others begging for mercy, repeating, "Leave me, leave me." Defense attorneys Nina Marino and Collin Cate requested five years.
- Beyond the torture conviction, Alsheikh was found guilty of lying to U.S. immigration authorities to obtain a green card; he has expressed willingness to be deported to Syria, where the new government seeks accountability.
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Of the fourteen accused, one soldier was sentenced to 20 years in prison, and two former followers of the fallen dictator were sentenced to life imprisonment and hanging for the violence of 2025, resulting in hundreds of deaths.
Syria issues first verdicts over Alawite minority killings: One death, one life, and one 20 years’ jail
ALEPPO, Sept 17 — Syria’s judiciary issued its first verdicts on Thursday over last year’s killing of hundreds of members of the Alawite minority on the Syrian coast.The court sentenced a former member of government forces to 20 years in prison for murder, while two supporters of the deposed government received a death sentence and life in prison.Fourteen people were accused of involvement in the massacres, in a trial that opened last November. …
The first people have been convicted in Syria in the case concerning the murders of hundreds of Alawites last year. A former government member received a 20-year prison sentence, a supporter of the fallen Assad regime received the death penalty, and another supporter received a life sentence.
Former Syrian official convicted of torture under Assad faces sentenci
A former Syrian military official convicted of torturing prisoners during President Bashar Assad’s regime is facing a possible decades-long prison sentence in the U.S. A federal judge in Los Angeles is scheduled to sentence Samir Ousman Alsheikh
Syrian court issues first sentences over 2025 massacres of Alawites
Syria's judiciary on Thursday issued its first verdicts over the massacres of Alawites on the Syrian coast last year, sentencing a former member of government forces to 20 years in prison. A supporter of deposed president Bashar al-Assad received a death sentence and another was sentenced to life in jail.
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