Ex-Damascus prison chief to stand trial in US court for torture
Kyiv • UNN
The former head of Damascus Central Prison is accused in the United States of torturing prisoners in 2005-2008. Samir Usman Alsheikh, 72, arrived in the United States in 2020 and was arrested in Los Angeles.
A Syrian citizen who was in charge of a prison in the Syrian capital Damascus in 2005-2008 and later stayed in the United States for 4 years is accused of causing mental and physical pain and suffering to political and other prisoners.
Transmits UNN with reference to BBC.
A former Syrian government official has been charged with torture in the United States, authorities said on Thursday.
Samir Usman Alsheikh, who ran Damascus Central Prison from 2005 to 2008, was indicted by a U.S. federal jury on several counts of torture and conspiracy to commit torture.
The 72-year-old man is accused of sending prisoners to a certain wing of the prison, where they were suspended from the ceiling and beaten at the same time, or subjecting them to the “German chair,” which involves the amputation of a prisoner's limbs.
The US authorities said that the charges against Alsheikh are “chilling.
For reference
Alsheikh arrived in the United States in 2020 and applied for American citizenship in 2023. Last July, he was arrested in Los Angeles and charged with lying to authorities about his past. This year, he was arrested at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) on two counts of immigration fraud.
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