Samer Othman al-Sheikh, a former Syrian military official convicted of torturing prisoners during Bashar al-Assad's presidency, faces a multi-decade prison sentence in the United States. A federal judge in Los Angeles is set to issue his sentence on Thursday.
Conviction for Torture
A jury in March convicted al-Sheikh of one count of conspiracy to commit torture and three counts of torture during his tenure at the infamous Adra prison from 2005 to 2008. Human rights groups and UN officials have accused the Syrian government of widespread abuses in detention facilities, including torture and unlawful detentions of thousands.
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Torture and Abuse of Prisoners
Prosecutors stated that al-Sheikh sent certain prisoners to a part of Adra prison to suppress political dissent, where they were held in small solitary confinement cells and tortured. During the two-week trial, three victims recounted beatings while being suspended from ceiling pipes and the use of devices that bent their bodies at the waist. One individual testified that al-Sheikh had stepped on this device with his foot.
In a memo sent to the judge, prosecutors wrote: "The defendant knew that what he was doing was wrong. Nevertheless, he ordered and participated in the torture of his victims because he was confident in his power and thought he would never be held accountable for it."
The memo also included statements from several victims. One of them, Nidal Shekhani, stated that he still hears the screams of others pleading for help.
Prosecutors have asked the judge to impose a minimum sentence of 80 years for al-Sheikh. His attorneys, Nina Mareno and Colin Cate, have requested a sentence of 5 years, citing his age of 74 and his medical and cognitive conditions. They also stated that he is willing to be deported to Syria, where a new government has attempted to hold former members of the Assad regime accountable.
Al-Sheikh arrived in the United States in 2020 and applied for citizenship, but prosecutors stated that he concealed information about his involvement in torture. Federal officials arrested him at Los Angeles International Airport in July 2024.
The jury also convicted him in March of lying to U.S. immigration officials and unlawfully obtaining a green card and attempting to gain U.S. citizenship.
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Source: abcnews.com
