FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 1, 2014
CONTACT: Samantha Friedman, West End Strategy Team
Office: (202) 776-7700; Cell: (202) 215-9260,
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
National Faith Group Condemns CIA Spying and Cover-up in Connection with the Torture Report
WASHINGTON – In response to recent reports that the CIA spied on Senate Intelligence Committee investigators who were working to uncover the truth about the CIA’s use of torture, Rev. Ron Stief, executive director of the National Religious Campaign Against Torture, released this statement:
“The public has not only the right to know the truth about the abuses carried out by our government in our name, we have an obligation to know. The CIA would not have risked spying on the Senate Intelligence Committee investigators if they didn’t have something to cover up. Torture by any other name is still torture, and the CIA’s efforts to cover up torture by interfering with the Intelligence Committee investigation or redefining brutal, inhumane, immoral acts as something other than torture ought to be profoundly embarrassing for the U.S. government.
Torture is a sin against humanity and against God. Torture violates the God-given dignity and worth of every person. The CIA may have avoided the laws against torture by renaming it, but they cannot avoid the moral consequences.
Our nation needs to have the courage to confront the truth about torture and act to ensure that it never happens again. As people of faith, we are called to do what is right, even in the face of significant opposition. Once the report is released and the facts are public, Congress should do what is right by passing legislation that will permanently prevent the CIA from ever torturing prisoners again.”
The National Religious Campaign Against Torture (NRCAT) is a membership organization committed to ending U.S.-sponsored torture, and cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment. Since its formation in January 2006, more than 300 religious organizations have joined NRCAT, including representatives from the Catholic, evangelical Christian, mainline Protestant, Unitarian Universalist, Quaker, Orthodox Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, Baha’i, Buddhist, and Sikh communities. Members include national denominations and faith groups, regional organizations and local congregations.
NRCAT.org @NRCATtweets facebook.com/nrcat
####
