A former Syrian official under the rule of former President Bashar Assad was federally indicted in the U.S. for torturing prisoners held at Damascus Central Prison from 2005-08, according to a Thursday release from the Justice Department .
U.S. officials said Samir Ousman Alsheikh ordered and occasionally engaged in heinous acts against captives brought to the “Punishment Wing,” an area of the prison where they were hung from the ceiling, subjected to a device known as the “Flying Carpet,” which folded their bodies in half at the waist and sometimes resulting in fractured spines, and other torture strategies.
Alsheikh, a 72-year-old who resides in Lexington, S.C., held positions in the Syrian police force and state security and immigrated to the United States in 2020 and applied for U.S. citizenship in 2023…