Samir Ousman is Responsible for the Deaths of Nearly 4,000 Syrian Citizens, Including 93 Under Torture, and the Disappearance of 508 Others

SNHR Briefs the US Department of Justice on the Most Prominent Violations Ousman Committed During His Tenure 

On July 9, 2024, United States law enforcement agencies apprehended a former Syrian regime officer who held senior security and civilian positions in the governorates of Rural Damascus and Deir Ez-Zour. Samir Ousman al-Sheikh was detained in Los Angeles, California, over his alleged involvement in war crimes and crimes against humanity perpetrated during his tenure in service. These crimes include extrajudicial killing, arbitrary arrest, enforced disappearance, and torture.

As the database of the Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR) attests, Samir Ousman al-Sheikh, a Brigadier-General who originally hailed from Idlib governorate, retired from military service in 2011. During his career, he held several senior leadership positions, including serving as the head of Adra Central Prison in Rural Damascus governorate, as well as the head of the Political Security Intelligence Directorate in Rural Damascus. On July 24, 2011, he was appointed as the governor of Deir Ez-Zour governorate, succeeding Hussein Arnous. He held that position until 2013. His appointment coincided with the first waves of the popular uprising reaching Deir Ez-Zour governorate. As such, he was a member of the governorate’s security committee, which was charged with taking decisions concerning military and security-related affairs, with the members of these committees accorded executive and decision-making powers. Al-Sheikh also helped in directing the coordination between regime security branches in regard to carrying out arrests and raids in the governorate. In August 2011, while al-Sheikh was governor, regime army forces entered Deir Ez-Zour in an effort to crush the popular uprising there. At the time, Colonel Muhi al-Din Harmoush was head of the Political Security Directorate branch in Deir Ez-Zour, while Brigadier General Mohammad Tayyara was head of the governorate’s Air Force Intelligence Directorate branch, Major General Jamea Jamae headed its Military Security Intelligence Directorate branch, and Brigadier General Da’as al-Ali was head of the State Security branch in Deir Ez-Zour.

According to accounts from former prisoners in Deir Ez-Zour governorate, detainees would often be gathered in the governorate’s main municipal building before being transferred to detention centers in the governorate.

In light of the posts he previously held as documented on our databases, it’s clear that al-Sheikh held leadership positions in the regime hierarchy at a time when egregious violations were committed under his supervision, for which he is liable, since he took no action to prevent said violations, and may have been a party to those violations by giving orders, or at the very least turning a blind eye to them. Al-Sheikh also failed to launch any investigation into those crimes. In the eyes of international law, these facts mean that al-Sheikh is a partner in these crimes.

Below is an brief summary of the violations that took place while al-Sheikh held senior leadership positions within the regime’s security and civilian authorities from April/July 2011 until January 15, 2013, including killings, arrest, enforced disappearance, and torture, as documented by SNHR:

• SNHR documented the killing of 3,933 civilians, including 312 children and 261 women by Syrian regime forces and pro-regime militias in Deir Ez-Zour governorate between the end of April 2011 and January 15, 2013. Of this number, at least 14 were medical personnel, and 13 were media workers.
• SNHR documented 93 deaths due to torture, including of two children, in regime detention centers in Deir Ez-Zour governorate between July 2011 and January 15, 2013.
• SNHR documented at least 659 arrests, including of 31 children and 19 women, in Deir Ez-Zour governorate between July 2011 and January 15, 2013. These detainees were held in regime detention centers in Deir Ez-Zour governorate. Of these, 47 were released, while 612 are still imprisoned, including 508 who were categorized as forcibly disappeared persons,
• Most notable massacres:

1. On Sunday, August 7, 2011, 81 civilians, including six children and seven women, were killed by regime army forces during a raid on Deir Ez-Zour city.
2. On Sunday, September 25, 2012, regime forces, backed by soldiers from the Republican Guard’s Brigade 105, raided the neighborhoods of al-Joura and al-Qosour in Deir Ez-Zour from three separate points. This was followed by artillery and tank attacks. The offensive resulted in the killing of 95 civilians, including three children and four women, who were killed using various methods (slaughtered by knives or by gunfire).
3. On Tuesday, December 25, 2012, Syrian regime fixed-wing warplanes fired missiles at a bakery in al-Bseira city in rural Deir Ez-Zour governorate, killing 22 civilians, and injuring about 73 others. The airstrikes also heavilh destroyed the bakery building and equipment. The city was under the control of armed opposition factions at the time of the incident.

SNHR has been helping to build this case since 2023 in collaboration and coordination with the Syrian Emergency Task Force (SETF), which has worked with the US government, particularly the Department of Justice, to apprehend the former regime officer. The information provided is all based on meticulously documented and verified data. We believe that the accused is undoubtedly involved in these crimes, especially given his status as a high-level official in Deir Ez-Zour governorate at the time when they took place. Furthermore, it goes without saying that Bashar Assad is also responsible for those violations as the Commander-in-Chief of the Military and Armed Forces who enjoys uncontested powers within the Syrian regime.

In October 2019, SNHR signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the US Government to help in investigation and accountability efforts. The MoU provided for establishing a mechanism for coordination and collaboration, in order to share information and data documented by SNHR on human rights violations in Syria, and on those implicated in perpetrating these violations, and more broadly to take part in the US government’s investigations into some of these violations and to add as many as possible of those involved to the economic and political sanction lists, which would pose a major obstacle to any effort to rehabilitate the regime and its various components. It should be noted that this remains one of the most important forms of accountability currently available.

SNHR welcomes the US authorities’ apprehension of Brigadier-General Samir al-Sheikh as a positive step along the path of accountability. We also call on the US government to expand its jurisdiction to investigate the international crimes committed in Syria, and to prosecute all those involved in these crimes who are present on American soil.