Facts
Damascus Central Prison, colloquially known as Adra Prison, was a prison operated by the Syrian Interior Ministry for the detention of political dissidents and prisoners accused or convicted of other crimes.
The prison is reported to have contained a “punishment wing”, located in a below-ground section of the building, which included small isolation cells where prisoners were detained in extremely cold conditions, allowed to wear only minimal or no clothing and were provided with inadequate or inedible food. The wing also contained a room in which prisoners were interrogated and subjected to numerous forms of torture, including beatings with batons and cables, being suspended from the ceiling by their wrists for hours, being shocked with electric prods and burned with heated metal rods and being subjected to a device known as the “Flying Carpet”, which folded prisoners’ bodies in half at the waist, causing excruciating pain and sometimes resulting in fractured spines.
According to the indictment, in his role as head of the prison during the period 2005 to 2008, Samir Ousman Alsheikh ordered subordinates and was sometimes personally involved in interrogating and torturing prisoners in the “punishment wing”, including by beating them, suspending them from the ceiling with their arms extended and subjecting them to the “Flying Carpet”.
Alsheikh is reported to have immigrated to the United States in 2020 and applied for US citizenship in 2023.
Procedure
On 10 July 2024, Alsheikh was arrested at Los Angeles International Airport for making false statements related to his role in torture allegedly committed in Adra Prison in his applications for permanent residency and US citizenship. On 22 August 2024, he filed a request to be released from detention pending trial. The US District Court for the Central District of California denied the request and ordered he remains detained pending trial.
On 12 December 2024, a superseding indictment was issued charging Alsheikh with torture and conspiracy to commit torture, fraud and misuse of visas, and attempted unlawful procurement of naturalization. The charges of torture relate to his conduct as head of Adra Prison during the period 2005 to 2008.
On 16 March 2026, a Los Angeles jury found Samir Ousman Alsheikh guilty of three counts of torture and one count of conspiracy to commit torture. The jury also found Alsheikh guilty of lying to U.S. immigration authorities about his commission of these crimes, fraudulently obtaining a green card and attempting to naturalize as a U.S. citizen.