Former Lexington resident going to prison for crimes in Syria, prosecutor says

A man who used to live in Lexington, South Carolina is going to prison for crimes that occurred in Syria as well as for lying to immigration officials, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

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Samir Ousman Alsheikh, a 74-year-old former Syrian government official who was the head of one of that nation’s major prisons was sentenced to 60 years in federal prison Sept. 17, the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Central District of California said in a news release. There is no parole in the federal system.

U.S. District Judge Hernán Vera sentenced Alsheikh to the time behind bars for torturing inmates, then later lying about the torture to U.S. immigration officials, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said. The lies were to fraudulently obtain a green card and attempt to naturalize as a U.S. citizen, according to the release.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office said that Alsheikh previously split time between residences in Lexington and Los Angeles, the Lexington County Chronicle reported. Information about when Alsheikh lived in Lexington was not available.

In March, a federal jury convicted Alsheikh of conspiracy to commit torture, three counts of torture, one count of visa fraud and one count of attempted naturalization fraud, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said. Alsheikh has been in federal custody since July 2024, according to the release.

“Criminals who inflict the type of savage brutality that this defendant did on his victims must never be granted refuge in our country,” First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli said in the release.

“Severe physical and mental pain”

According to evidence presented at a 2‑week trial, Alsheikh was a brigadier general in charge of Damascus Central Prison, commonly known as Adra Prison, from approximately 2005 through 2008, under the regime of then-Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, according to the release. Alsheikh inflicted and ordered subordinates to inflict severe physical and mental pain and suffering on prisoners, the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

Alsheikh was the highest-ranking former member of the Assad regime to be tried and convicted in person outside of Syria, Assistant Attorney General Tysen Duva said in the release. Assad is living in Russia under restrictions after fleeing Syria, Euro News reported.

Alsheikh ordered certain prisoners to be sent to a section of the prison known as Wing 13, where they were held in tiny isolation cells and tortured, according to the release.

“Victims who refused to harm or kill political dissidents imprisoned with them or who otherwise showed support for those dissidents testified at trial that they witnessed and suffered various forms of torture,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office said. “For example, guards used manacles to suspend prisoners by their wrists from pipes on the ceiling for extended periods of time and beat them with fists or cables. One victim testified that he felt like his limbs would be torn from his body when they suspended him for days.”

The flying carpet

Witnesses also testified that they were placed on a torture device known as the flying carpet, or magic carpet, which consisted of two large wooden panels with hinges in the middle, according to the release. Guards strapped the victims to the device on their backs, positioning their waists at the hinges, and then forcing the lower panel together with the upper, folding the upper and lower halves of the victims’ bodies together and causing excruciating pain and serious injury, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.

One victim recalled that Alsheikh himself stomped on the flying carpet with his foot while the victim was restrained in the device, according to the release. One victim testified that as part of his punishment for writing a letter of support to a political prisoner, he was subjected to the flying carpet and then forced to wear a red jumpsuit solely assigned to those designated for execution, making him believe he was going to die, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.

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Witnesses also testified to being folded into a car tire, restrained, and beaten by guards, according to the release.

Alsheikh ordered these and other horrific acts of torture and brutality against the three named victims in the indictment, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.

After prison

Following his time at Adra Prison, Alsheikh was appointed governor of the Syrian province of Deir Ez-Zour in 2011. In 2018, he applied for a visa to enter the U.S. and became a Lawful Permanent Resident, according to the release. While completing his visa application, he concealed the acts of torture and violence he committed at Adra prison, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.

Alsheikh entered the U.S. in 2020 and continued to lie about and conceal his past conduct in his 2023 application to become a citizen, according to the release.

“If you engage in torture and come to the United States, the FBI and its partners are going to ensure that you face the consequences for your illegal disregard for human rights,” Assistant Director Heith Janke of the FBI Criminal Division said in the release. “The acts Alsheikh ordered and directly participated in are gruesome and disturbing. We would like to offer our gratitude to the brave victims who testified leading to today’s sentencing. We hope that they are able to find some solace in the fact that it will now be their former prison warden who is incarcerated.”

Homeland Security Investigations Los Angeles and FBI Chicago investigated this matter with assistance from HSI and FBI legal attachés in Germany, the HSI-led Human Rights Violators and War Crimes Center, and the FBI’s International Human Rights Unit. The Federal Criminal Police Office of Germany also provided substantial support, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Joshua Mausner of the National Security Division and Department of Justice Trial Attorney Patrick Jasperse of the Human Rights and Special Prosecutions Section prosecuted the case, with significant assistance from HRSP Historian/Analyst Philip Hoffman and HRSP Trial Attorney Alexandra Skinnion. The Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs provided critical support, according to the release.

Nina Marino, Alsheikh’s attorney, said her client plans to appeal the sentence, according to the Los Angeles Times. Alsheikh’s legal team asked for a 5-year sentence, Reuters reported.

Members of the public who have information about former human rights violators in the U.S. are urged to contact U.S. law enforcement through the HSI tip line at 1-866-DHS-2-ICE, or internationally at 001-1802-872-6199. They can also email [email protected] or complete its online tip form at https://www.ice.gov/webform/ice-tip-form.

This story was originally published September 20, 2026 at 10:38 AM with the headline “Former Lexington resident going to prison for crimes in Syria, prosecutor says.”

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