Washington, Sept. 18 (SANA)A U.S. court sentenced Brig. Gen.Samir Ousman al-sheikh, a former director ofAdra Central Prisonunder the deposed regime, to 60 years in prison after his conviction on torture and immigration fraud charges, theU.S. Justice Departmentsaid Thursday.

Al-Sheikh was convicted of ordering and participating in the torture of prisoners while running Adra Prison, also known asDamascus Central Prison, from about 2005 to 2008, according to a Justice Department statement.

A jury in March found him guilty of conspiracy to commit torture, three counts of torture, visa fraud and attempted naturalization fraud.

The Justice Department said al-Sheikh committed serious human rights violations inSyria, including the suppression of political opposition, and later concealed his background from U.S. immigration authorities.

He entered the United States in 2020 after obtaining a visa and subsequently provided false information in applications for permanent residency and U.S. citizenship, the department said.

“Samir al-Sheikhis the highest-ranking former member of the Assad regime to be personally prosecuted and convicted outside Syria, and he is now subject to the American justice system,” said Assistant Attorney General A. Tysen Duva of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division.

Duva said the case demonstrated that human rights violators who seek refuge in the United States would not find a safe haven.

He credited the victims who came forward, U.S. investigators and prosecutors, and Germany’s Federal Criminal Police Office, which helped arrange meetings with witnesses in Germany.

First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli for the Central District of California said people responsible for such abuses should not be granted refuge in theUnited Statesand expressed hope that the sentence would provide some relief to the victims.

Acting Special Agent in Charge Erin Burke of the HSI Los Angeles Field Office said investigators would continue pursuing people suspected of serious human rights violations who attempt to evade accountability by entering the United States.

She said cooperation among HSI’sHuman RightsViolators and War Crimes Center, the FBI and international partners helped bring the case to trial.

Three victims testified during the trial about torture they suffered and about witnessing or hearing the torture of other prisoners, according to the Justice Department.

Their testimony described prisoners being strapped to a device known as the “Flying Carpet,” which forcibly folded their bodies at the waist.

Other prisoners were suspended from the ceiling in handcuffs for hours or days, beaten while restrained inside tires and confined in small, cold and damp cells infested with insects and other pests, according to evidence presented at trial.

Prosecutors said two prisoners were punished after refusing al-Sheikh’s orders to harm political prisoners. A third was punished after guards intercepted a message of support he had sent to a political detainee.

Al-Sheikh ordered the prisoners transferred to an underground section of Adra Prison known as “Wing 13,” where they were held in small cells and tortured, according to evidence presented at trial.

Assistant Director Heith Janke of the FBI Criminal Division thanked the victims who testified and said he hoped the sentence would provide them with some measure of comfort.

Al-Sheikh has remained in U.S. custody since his arrest in July 2024.

The investigation involved Homeland Security Investigations, theFBIand theHuman RightsViolators and War Crimes Center, with assistance from international partners, the Justice Department said.The department urged anyone with information about former human rights violators living in the United States to report it to U.S. law enforcement.

The case is the latest in a series of proceedings outside Syria involving officials of the ousted regime.

In Britain, Westminster Magistrates’ Court in March began proceedings against Salem al-Salem, a former Air Force Intelligence officer under the deposed regime, on charges including murder, torture and crimes against humanity committed during the years of the Syrian revolution.

Austrian prosecutors last November charged deposed regime intelligence Brig. Gen. Khaled al-Halabi, former head of the State Security branch in Raqqa, and Lt. Col. Musab Abu Rukba with serious crimes and systematic abuses against detained civilians during the war in Syria, including allegations of torture and sexual assault.

In May 2024, a French court tried three senior deposed regime officials in absentia on charges of complicity in crimes against humanity and war crimes.kA/ABD