Former Syrian military official who oversaw notorious prison indicted in California on federal torture charges

[ad_1] A former Syrian army official who oversaw a jail the place alleged human rights abuses happened has been charged with a number of counts of torture after being arrested in July for visa fraud prices, authorities mentioned Thursday.

Samir Ousman al-Sheikh, who oversaw Syria's notorious Adra Jail from 2005 to 2008 beneath not too long ago ousted President Bashar al-Assad, was charged by a federal grand jury in California with a number of counts of torture and conspiracy to commit torture.

"It is an enormous step towards justice," mentioned Mouaz Moustafa, govt director of the U.S.-based Syrian Emergency Process Drive. "Samir Ousman al-Sheikh's trial will reiterate that the US won't permit struggle criminals to come back and reside in the US with out accountability, even when their victims weren't U.S. residents."

Folks store within the outdated metropolis market on Dec. 12, 2024, in Damascus, Syria, after insurgent forces retook the capital from longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad, who has fled the nation for Russia. Getty Photographs

Federal officers detained the 72-year-old in July at Los Angeles Worldwide Airport on prices of immigration fraud, particularly that he denied on his U.S. visa and citizenship functions that he had ever persecuted anybody in Syria , based on a felony grievance. He had bought a one-way aircraft ticket to depart LAX on July 10, en path to Beirut, Lebanon.

Human rights teams and United Nations officers have accused the Syrian authorities of widespread abuses in its detention amenities, together with torture and arbitrary detention of hundreds of individuals, in lots of instances with out informing their households.

The federal government fell to a sudden insurgent offensive final Sunday, placing an finish to the 50-year rule of the Assad household and sending the previous president fleeing to Russia. Insurgents have freed tens of hundreds of prisoners from amenities in a number of cities since then.

In his function as the pinnacle of Adra Jail, al-Sheikh allegedly ordered subordinates to inflict ache and was instantly concerned in inflicting extreme bodily and psychological ache on prisoners.

He ordered prisoners to the "Punishment Wing," the place they have been crushed whereas suspended from the ceiling with their arms prolonged and have been subjected to a tool that folded their our bodies in half on the waist, typically leading to fractured spines, based on federal officers.

"Our consumer vehemently denies these politically motivated and false accusations," his lawyer, Nina Marino, mentioned in an emailed assertion.

Marino referred to as the case a "misguided use" of presidency assets by the Justice Division for the "prosecution of a overseas nationwide for alleged crimes that occurred in another country towards non-Americans."

U.S. authorities accused two Syrian officers of operating a jail and torture middle on the Mezzeh air drive base within the capital of Damascus in an indictment unsealed Monday. Victims included Syrians, People and twin residents, together with 26-year-old American help employee Layla Shweikani, based on prosecutors and the Syrian Emergency Process Drive.

Federal prosecutors mentioned that they had issued arrest warrants for the 2 officers, who stay at massive.

In Might, a French courtroom sentenced three high-ranking Syrian officers in absentia to life in jail for complicity in struggle crimes in a largely symbolic however landmark case towards Assad's regime and the primary such case in Europe.

Al-Sheikh started his profession working police command posts earlier than transferring to Syria's state safety equipment, which targeted on countering political dissent, officers mentioned. He later grew to become head of Adra Jail and brigadier normal in 2005. In 2011, he was appointed governor of Deir ez-Zour, a area northeast of the Syrian capital of Damascus, the place there have been violent crackdowns towards protesters.

The indictment alleges that al-Sheikh immigrated to the U.S. in 2020 and utilized for citizenship in 2023.

If convicted, he faces a most sentence of 20 years in jail for the conspiracy to commit torture cost and every of the three torture prices, plus a most sentence of 10 years in jail for every of the 2 immigration fraud prices.