Samir Ousman Alsheikh, age 74, was sentenced to 60 years in prison on September 17-18, 2026 by a US court after being convicted in March of three counts of torture, one count of conspiracy to commit torture, visa fraud, and attempted naturalization fraud. He headed the Damascus Central Prison under Bashar al-Assad's regime.
Samir Ousman al-Sheikh, a former Syrian official who headed the Damascus Central Prison under Bashar al-Assad's regime, was sentenced to 60 years in prison on September 17-18, 2026 by a US federal court for torture and conspiracy to commit torture. He is only the fifth person prosecuted under the extraterritorial Torture Act.