A former Syrian government official who headed the Damascus Central Prison under ousted President Bashar al-Assad and was convicted of torture by a U.S. federal jury has been sentenced to 60 years in prison by a U.S. judge, federal prosecutors said.
District Judge Hernan Vera in Los Angeles. Alsheikh’s legal team had asked for a five-year sentence. Thursday’s (September 18) sentence was handed down by U.S. Alsheikh, who headed Adra Prison from 2005 to 2008, had previously pleaded not guilty.
In March, they said they were “disappointed” by his conviction. “This trial is not the end, but the first step on the road toward accountability and justice for everyone whose hands have been stained with the blood of innocent people,” he said.
Hundreds of thousands died in a civil war that lasted more than a decade, unleashed a global refugee crisis, and left cities across the country in ruins. Last month, a Syrian court sentenced Mr Assad, who resides in Russia, in absentia to death after convicting him of crimes including killings, torture, and arbitrary arrest during the country’s war. Syrian rebels put an end to more than 50 years of rule by the Assad family in late 2024 following a lightning advance.
