Samir Ousman Alsheikh, Torture, South Carolina 2024

A former Syrian government official has been charged with torture in connection with his role in human rights abuses at a notorious prison in Syria, federal authorities announced today.

Samir Ousman Alsheikh, 72, of Lexington, South Carolina, was the head of Damascus Central Prison, also known as Adra Prison, from approximately 2005 through 2008. In that role, Alsheikh allegedly ordered subordinates to inflict and was sometimes personally involved in inflicting severe physical and mental pain and suffering on political and other prisoners.

According to court documents, Alsheikh ordered some prisoners to Adra Prison’s “Punishment Wing,” where prisoners were beaten while suspended from the ceiling with their arms extended and were subjected to a device known as the “Flying Carpet,” which folded their bodies in half at the waist, causing excruciating pain and sometimes resulting in fractured spines.

“Samir Alsheikh is charged with torturing political dissidents and other prisoners to deter opposition to the regime of then-Syrian President Bashar al-Assad,” said Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Nicole M. Argentieri. “Alsheikh later allegedly lied about his crimes to obtain a U.S. green card. The victims of such violent treatment continue to suffer long after the physical acts of torture have ceased.

Alsheikh allegedly held a variety of positions in the Syrian police and the Syrian state security apparatus, was associated with the Syrian Ba’ath Party that ruled Syria, and was appointed governor of the province of Deir Ez-Zour by then-Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in 2011. The superseding indictment alleges that Alsheikh immigrated to the United States in 2020 and applied for U.S. citizenship in 2023.

HSI and the FBI are investigating the case, with support from the HSI-led Human Rights Violators and War Crimes Center and the Office of International Affairs. If convicted, Alsheikh faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison for each of the three torture charges, and a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison for each of the two immigration fraud charges.

The victims of human rights abuses abroad will not be forgotten, said federal authorities. “The United States will never be a safe haven for those who commit human rights abuses abroad,” said Special Agent in Charge Eddy Wang of the HSI Los Angeles Field office.

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