The previous head of a infamous Syrian jail was charged Thursday in the USA with torturing opponents of the now-collapsed authorities of Bashar al-Assad, the Justice Division stated.
Samir Ousman Alsheikh, 72, who has been within the US since 2020, allegedly ran Damascus Central Jail — recognized colloquially as Adra Jail — from roughly 2005 to 2008, the place detainees have been subjected to horrific abuse within the “Punishment Wing.”
The costs come days after Assad fled the nation as his authorities crumbled, and as thousands and thousands of Syrians start a reckoning with a long time of repression.
Alsheikh personally inflicted extreme bodily and psychological ache on detainees, in addition to ordering his employees to hold out such acts, US prosecutors stated.
Below Alsheikh, prisoners have been overwhelmed whereas hung from the ceiling, or subjected to a tool often called the “Flying Carpet,” which folded their our bodies in half on the waist, inflicting excruciating ache and generally leading to fractured spines.
“We’re one step nearer to holding him accountable for these heinous crimes. The USA won’t ever be a secure haven for individuals who commit human rights abuses overseas,” stated Eddy Wang, particular agent accountable for the Homeland Safety Investigations Los Angeles area workplace.
Alsheikh faces three counts of torture and one rely of conspiracy to commit torture. He was arrested in July on the Los Angeles airport on separate immigration fraud prices.
If convicted, he could possibly be jailed for as much as 20 years for every of the torture prices.
The Justice Division stated Alsheikh held a wide range of positions within the Syrian police and the Syrian state safety equipment.
He was additionally related to the Syrian Ba’ath Occasion that dominated the nation, and had been appointed governor of the province of Deir Ez-Zour by Assad in 2011.
He moved to the USA in 2020 and utilized for citizenship in 2023.
A simmering civil warfare in Syria erupted late final month with a lightning offensive spearheaded by the Islamist Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) group and its allies.
After racing by way of a number of main cities, the rebels shortly swept Damascus, sending Assad fleeing to Russia and bringing a sudden finish to 5 a long time of repressive rule by his clan.
Syrians have since flocked to prisons trying to find lacking family members.
Tens of hundreds of individuals died of torture or on account of the circumstances of their detention in prisons beneath Assad’s rule for the reason that civil warfare erupted in 2011, in line with the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
