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.
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…