Former Assad prison chief sentenced to 60 years in US for torture

A Los Angeles federal judge sentenced former Syrian official Samir Ousman Alsheikh, 74, to 60 years for torture at Adra Prison from roughly 2005 to 2008 under Bashar al-Assad. Convicted in March of conspiracy and torture plus immigration fraud after arriving in 2020, he was arrested in 2024. Prosecutors had sought at least 80 years.