Press Release

Syrian Coalition

June 03, 2016

The Syrian National Coalition strongly condemns the National Press Club’s immoral and potentially illegal decision to feature remarks by Syrian regime propagandist Bouthaina Shaaban. Placed under U.S. sanctions since August 2011, Shaaban has used her position as political and media advisor to Syrian dictator and war criminal Bashar Assad to justify mass atrocities and whitewash regime-sponsored brutality.

In response to Shaaban’s commentary at the National Press Club, the Syrian National Coalition’s Special Representative to the UN, Dr. Najib Ghadbian, said:

“Throughout her career, Shaaban has served as a mouthpiece for the Assad regime’s war on civilians. She has used her position to rationalize and applaud Assad’s mass killing of hundreds of thousands of children, women, and men. Her talk at the National Press Club was an opportunity to do more of the same. She not only lied directly to the American people, she also undermined the suffering of the Syrian people—ridiculing well-documented reports of mass starvation in besieged areas and denying the existence of a moderate Syrian opposition.

“It is disappointing that a venerable institution like the National Press Club would provide a platform for an enabler of war crimes. We are exploring whether the National Press Club has breached sanctions by providing a proscribed individual with a platform to preach hate and what the legal ramifications of such a violation may be. We will be bringing the issue to the attention of the U.S. Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control as well as the U.S. Attorney General.”