Torture survivor drops the F-bomb during UNSC address, leaves representatives speechless

Torture survivor drops the F-bomb during UNSC address, leaves representatives speechless
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Update: 04 July 2022 00:34
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Syrian activist Omar Alshogre blasted the body for being ineffective, urged action against the Assad Regime’s human rights violations

The halls of the United Nations Security Council in New York vibrated with the impassionate speech of the 27-year-old Syrian Activist Omar Alshogre. The director for Detainee Affairs at the Syrian Emergency Task Force, a U.S. based-organization established in 2011 to support the Syrian opposition, gave testimony during an informal meeting on the situation in Syria convened by council members Estonia, France, the UK, and the US, along with numerous sponsors including Turkey.

During his speech, Alshogre shared personal messages of Syrians hailing from each of the 14 regions of the country addressed to the UN Security Council. Halfway through the list, a visibly agitated Alshogre stated,

Just so you know, I am not going to filter the voices of the Syrian people. I am telling you exactly what they say, and here it comes. Karim from Idlib says to you, “you have been acting so lame since 2011. I lost everything I ever loved, I lost everything I have.” And he tells you “F*ck you for not being… useful. For not being respectful to human lives and human rights.”

Alshogre then turned his attention to the permanent representative of Russia. Criticizing Moscow’s unwavering support of the Assad Regime, the activist asked the diplomat “what is wrong with you? Don’t you have any sort of humanity? Did you shed it all entirely? How do you sleep at night? How do you look your kids in the eyes?” He also lambasted the United States for its “empty statements and no actions.”

Next, Alshogre criticized Jordan for not providing aid to over 30 thousand internally displaced people living in the Rukban camp. He called out Iran for its complicity in killing, maiming, and torturing Syrians opposing the Assad regime. He thanked Turkey and Lebanon for opening their borders to millions of Syrian refugees. But he called on the two governments, and others hosting Syrian refugees, to take action against the ever-increasing discrimination, racism, and persecution that Syrians face on a daily basis. 

The activist concluded his speech by calling on all member states to take immediate action on three topics:

  1. Opening of all border crossings in order to ensure the flow of humanitarian aid.
  2. Prosecution of the Syrian regime and its allies in the national courts of respective member states.
  3. Fighting alongside the Syrian people and those arbitrarily detained and tortured by the regime.

Alshoge recalled his capture and imprisonment during a recent interview he gave to Georgetown University. He told how he was captured and detained by regime forces for three years. He was beaten and subjected to torture until his mother saved him by paying a ransom and staging a mock execution in 2015.