(NY Times) A former Syrian military official who ran one of the country’s most notorious prisons and is accused of torturing and killing political dissidents has been arrested in Los Angeles, according to a court filing.
Federal law enforcement agents detained the former official, Samir Ousman al-Sheikh, 72, just before he was scheduled to depart last Wednesday on a one-way flight to Beirut, Lebanon, which shares a border with Syria, according to court papers. Federal investigators requested that a judge approve an arrest warrant a day earlier.
Mr. al-Sheikh, a permanent resident of Los Angeles since 2020, is accused of attempted naturalization fraud in his effort to seek U.S. citizenship, according to a criminal complaint filed last week.
Read more (alt: full cached text).
