FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE November 22, 2013
Contact: Samantha Friedman, West End Strategy Team, (202) 776-7700 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
National advocate for closing Guantanamo available for interview
Policy Director of NRCAT can comment on Senate NDAA Guantanamo vote and growing faith leader opposition to Guantanamo
WASHINGTON, D.C. – After the recent Senate vote in support of provisions that further enable transfers out of Guantanamo, Policy Director of the National Religious Campaign Against Torture, Matt Hawthorne, is available for interview on Guantanamo.
As a spokesman for a diverse national coalition of more than 325 U.S. religious organizations, Hawthorne can speak to the significance of the Senate vote and its implications for Guantanamo Bay. Additionally, Hawthorne can speak to the growing opposition to Guantanamo among people of faith, as represented in a recent letter from forty three prominent faith leaders to Senators about the importance of supporting provisions that will move our country toward closing Guantanamo.
Hawthorne has been with the National Religious Campaign Against Torture since 2007. He has provided leadership to campaigns for an executive order banning torture, for legislation making torture less possible (including videotaping and ICRC access requirements), to close Guantanamo, to enable 100s of faith leaders to write op-ed and letters to the editor about torture, and for bi-partisan adoption of the Senate Intelligence Committee report on torture. Previously he was employed by Senator Byron Dorgan (D-ND). He is a graduate of Brandeis University.
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 325 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.
www.nrcat.org @NRCATtweets
