FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: April 10, 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
Senate Report Concludes CIA Impeded Legal Analysis and Oversight of the Torture Program: Faith Leaders Respond
WASHINGTON – More than five years after the torture program was ended, the American people now have the first concrete information from the congressional investigation into the CIA’s use of torture. A bipartisan 11-3 majority of the Senate Intelligence Committee recently voted to release the executive summary, findings and conclusions of the report -- a small portion of which was published tonight by McClatchy.
Rev. Ron Stief, executive director of the National Religious Campaign Against Torture, an organization representing more than 300 faith communities across the country, responded by saying: “It appears that the CIA deceived Department of Justice lawyers and the Bush Administration in order to obtain approval for the use of torture. This deception suggests that even those using it knew that torture was immoral and illegal. In the future, robust oversight and officials who do not give the CIA carte blanche must ensure that the agency does not again violate our values.”
Matt Hawthorne, NRCAT’s policy director, added: “The facts we learned today only emphasize the importance of new legal safeguards to ensure that in the future, the CIA cannot take advantage of deception and fear in order to persuade high level officials to approve the use of torture. When the report’s executive summary is released, it is critical that officials use the information in it to draft and pass legislation that will protect American values by permanently preventing the use of torture.”
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
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