Former Syrian prison warden gets 60 years in US as Austin Tice kidnap plot is traced to Assad

What happened to Samir Ousman al-Sheikh?

Samir Ousman al-Sheikh, 74, was sentenced in Los Angeles on Thursday after being convicted of torture and immigration fraud. He is the first official of the fallen Assad regime to be tried and sentenced in person in the United States, and the highest-ranking anywhere in the world.

Al-Sheikh ran the notorious Adra prison outside Damascus between 2005 and 2008. There, he oversaw 'Wing 13', an underground punishment block where political dissidents were subjected to horrific abuse. During a nine-day trial, victims described being squeezed into car tyres to be beaten, hung from ceiling pipes by their wrists, and strapped to a folding wooden device known as the 'magic carpet' that crushed their bodies. One witness testified that al-Sheikh himself stomped on him while he was pinned to the device.

He moved to the US in 2020, secured a green card, and was applying for citizenship when he was arrested at Los Angeles International Airport in July 2024. US District Judge Hernan D. Vera described his actions as "heinous, unimaginably cruel and almost unspeakably violent".

How was Austin Tice kidnapped?

While US courts address historical atrocities, new details have finally emerged about one of the regime's most high-profile victims. For 12 years, it was assumed that Austin Tice, an American freelance journalist and former US Marine captain, had been seized opportunistically at a checkpoint. But a BBC investigation has revealed his abduction was a carefully planned intelligence operation.

Tice was betrayed by his driver, Hamid Abu Obeid. A Palestinian refugee living in poverty in Syria, Abu Obeid was an informant for the pro-regime National Defence Forces (NDF). He was promised Syrian citizenship, a passport, a house, and a weapon in exchange for delivering the American.

The driver passed information to Sakr Rustom, an NDF official and the nephew of Assad's security chief, Bassam al-Hassan. According to Abu Ali, a former militia member involved in the operation, Hassan phoned the president to report Tice's movements. Assad's response was direct: "Bring him to us."

For weeks, the driver kept close to Tice, even stealing his backpack containing his computer and satellite transmitter so intelligence officers could inspect it. On 11 August 2012, Tice celebrated his 31st birthday at a rebel safehouse. Days later, Obeid drove Tice to a state facility on the outskirts of Damascus.

When the car arrived at the gates, the driver pulled a gun. Abu Ali recalled that Tice initially laughed, thinking it was a joke, before realising the danger and pleading with Obeid to name his price, offering his chequebook. Instead, militia members grabbed Tice and blindfolded him.

What is known about Austin Tice's current status?

Though secret Syrian intelligence files found after the regime collapsed in December 2024 prove the government held Tice, his fate remains unknown. A former Syrian commander claimed he was executed, but no remains have been found.

The driver's family says he received only a pistol for his betrayal. Following the collapse of the Assad regime, Abu Obeid fled his home after receiving threats of exposure to the US embassy, and his current whereabouts are unknown.