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The Loyola Justice for Atrocities Clinic (LJAC) is proud to be partnering with the Syria Justice and Accountability Centre to monitor the trial of former senior Syrian government official Samir Osman Alsheikh.
Alsheikh was arrested at LAX airport in July 2024 as he attempted to flee the United States, where he had allegedly been residing for several years. He is charged with torture and conspiracy to commit torture, in addition to immigration charges. The trial is set to begin in a Los Angeles federal courtroom on August 19, 2025.
Alsheikh is alleged to have been a high-ranking official in Syria under former President Bashar al-Assad before and during the Syrian civil war. From 2005-2008, he was allegedly the head of the “Adra Prison” outside Damascus––which held criminals as well as political dissidents, and was notoriously a site of much violence. He was also briefly the governor of Deir Ez-Zour province.
As the trial unfolds, LJAC students will attend the proceedings and produce dispatches in both English and Arabic so that Syrians and others around the world can follow these important proceedings in real time. Reports on the developments in this important trial will be published on the SJAC website as proceedings continue.