According to a US court document, a former Syrian military commander called Samir Ousman al-Sheikh, who oversaw one of the most infamous jails in Syria and is suspected of torturing and executing political prisoners, was taken into custody in Los Angeles, the New York Times reported.
In his application for US citizenship, al-Sheikh is charged with fabricating a statement about whether or not he had killed anyone or persecuted others for their political beliefs.
According to court documents, federal law enforcement officers arrested the former official, 72-year-old Samir Ousman al-Sheikh, shortly before he was supposed to board a one-way aircraft last Wednesday to Beirut, Lebanon, which borders Syria. A day earlier, federal investigators asked a judge to issue an arrest warrant.
A criminal complaint filed last week accuses al-Sheikh, a permanent resident of Los Angeles since 2020, of attempting to commit naturalization fraud in order to obtain US citizenship.
The accusation claims that al-Sheikh, a brigadier general, police commander, and intelligence officer who oversaw Syria’s notorious Adra jail, gave a fraudulent account of whether he had ever killed someone or punished someone for their political beliefs.
According to a court document, the case is still pending and detectives are thinking about filing more charges.
