NRCAT Press Releases

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: May 17, 2013

CONTACT: Samantha Friedman, Rabinowitz/Dorf Communications
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National interfaith anti-torture group participates in coalition delivery of 370,000 petition signatures calling on President Obama to close Guantanamo

WASHINGTON – Today, the National Religious Campaign Against Torture joined a coalition of human rights, public policy and faith-based groups in a rally in front of the White House, calling on President Obama to close the detention center at Guantanamo Bay. Today marks the 100th day that detainees being held at Guantanamo Bay have been on hunger strike.

During the rally, the National Religious Campaign Against Torture's executive director, Rev. Richard Killmer, lifted up the concern for the lives of the hunger strikers, and described the organization's longstanding concern for the moral wound that Guantanamo has created.

"Years of detention without charge or trial have created a sense of desperation and hopelessness among the men at Guantanamo, which has led over 100 of them to join a hunger strike," Killmer said during his remarks at the rally. "The human crisis in Guantanamo is a moral one that needs to end immediately. The faith community calls on the President to close Guantanamo. It is the right thing to do."

Contact: Samantha Friedman, Rabinowitz/Dorf Communications, (202) 265-3000 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

National Interfaith Coalition Joins Groups Calling on Holder to Ban Solitary Confinement of Youth in Federal Custody

Washington, D.C. – This week, the National Religious Campaign Against Torture, a vocal opponent of the highly controversial practice of subjecting youth to solitary confinement in prisons across the United States, joined more than three dozen representatives from criminal and juvenile justice reform advocacy and faith-based organizations, in submitting a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder, calling for the Department of Justice to adopt policies prohibiting the solitary confinement of youth in federal custody. The coalition of organizations asserted its belief that “the use of solitary confinement on youth must end,” stating that placing youth in solitary confinement is “not only cruel, but counterproductive for both rehabilitation and facility security. … Both law and the science of adolescent development recognize the need to treat juveniles differently from adults in the context of punishment and rehabilitation.”

The National Religious Campaign Against Torture issued its support today for the letter calling for the ban on youth solitary confinement in federal prisons, spearheaded by the American Civil Liberties Union. The letter follows the statement below. Rev. Richard Killmer, executive director of the National Religious Campaign Against Torture, issued this statement:

All the major faith traditions that comprise our national campaign share a call to protect the well-being of future generations. We recognize that the solitary confinement of youth denies the essential human need for community, severely disrupts the psychological and social development of youth, and is associated with high rates of suicide and serious mental health problems.

PRESS ADVISORY
May 8, 2013

Contact: Samantha Friedman, Rabinowitz/Dorf Communications,  (202) 265-3000 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

FRIDAY: Trio of Independent, Non-Partisan Organizations to Co-Sponsor Capitol Hill Guantanamo Briefing

Washington, D.C. – The National Religious Campaign Against Torture, The Constitution Project, and The New America Foundation will co-sponsor a panel discussion hosted by Rep. Jim Moran (Va.) on Friday, May 10, “Guantanamo: From Crisis to Solution.” The panel will examine the current situation at the detention center at Guantanamo Bay and President Obama’s options for transferring detainees out of Guantanamo, including the feasibility of permanently closing the prison. Rep. Moran has been a longtime advocate for the closure of the detention facility.

Press coverage is welcome.

Representatives from each co-sponsoring organization are available for interview in advance of the briefing and at the briefing. To arrange interviews or to RSVP to attend, please contact Samantha Friedman at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or 202-265-300.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: April 30, 2013

Contact: Samantha Friedman, Rabinowitz/Dorf Communications, (202) 265-3000 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Religious Leaders Call on President to Act Expeditiously on Renewed Commitment to Close Guantanamo

Washington, D.C. – During a press conference earlier today, President Obama reiterated his belief that the United States needs to close the detention center at Guantanamo Bay. Now, 38 religious leaders are releasing a public letter sent to the President and all members of Congress, describing the desperate situation at Guantanamo and calling on President Obama and Congress to back the President’s words with action by expeditiously moving to close the prison there. Click here for the letter.

In the letter, the coalition of religious leaders tells the President and all members of Congress, “Guantanamo Bay is a place where our government tortured prisoners, and it continues to be a place where many are detained indefinitely without trial. We believe that our government has a moral obligation to close the prison at Guantanamo. We hope that you share this belief and that you will act expeditiously to close Guantanamo.”

Press Release
April 25, 2013

Contact: Samantha Friedman, Rabinowitz/Dorf Communications
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National interfaith anti-torture group denounces Condoleezza Rice’s continued defense of torture

Washington, D.C. – In response to reports of former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice defending the use of so-called “enhanced interrogation techniques” in a video presentation at the dedication of the George W. Bush Presidential Library in Dallas today, Rev. Richard Killmer, Executive Director of the National Religious Campaign Against Torture, released this statement:

Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is still trying to justify the decision to use torture by claiming that what President Bush ordered wasn’t torture. Rice claims that the Justice Department said that so-called “enhanced interrogation techniques” were legal and that the CIA said they were necessary. 

But that claim doesn’t fly anymore. Both military and civilian lawyers have said that “enhanced interrogation techniques” were torture and just last week, the distinguished bipartisan Task Force on Detainee Treatment, convened by The Constitution Project, confirmed that fact unequivocally. The Task Force also found that the Bush Administration handpicked a few lawyers to manipulate the law and claim that acts of torture were legal, when of course they were not.

Press Release
April 25, 2013

Contact: Samantha Friedman, Rabinowitz/Dorf Communications
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National interfaith anti-torture group applauds Senator Feinstein’s letter to the Administration about Guantanamo

Washington, D.C. – Today, provoked by the growing numbers of Guantanamo Bay prisoners on hunger strike to protest their conditions and indefinite detention, Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) sent a letter to Thomas Donilon, Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs, calling on the Obama Administration to “renew its efforts to transfer out the 86 detainees at the Guantanamo Bay who were cleared for transfer.” Matt Hawthorne, Policy Director of the National Religious Campaign Against Torture, released this statement thanking the senator for her letter:

The prison at Guantanamo Bay remains open more than four years after President Obama promised to close it. As Senator Feinstein says in her letter, according to the International Committee of the Red Cross, the desperation among detainees there is reaching “unprecedented” levels. Over half of the detainees are on hunger strike.

CONTACT: Samantha Friedman, Rabinowitz/Dorf Communications
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National interfaith anti-torture group releases resources for Torture Awareness Month
2013 theme for annual commemoration occurring throughout June is Healing a Culture of Torture

WASHINGTON – June is Torture Awareness Month – a time to remember that the nations of the world created a treaty to bring an end to the use of torture and to commit ourselves anew to end torture in all of its forms. 2013 marks the 25th anniversary of President Reagan signing the Convention Against Torture. The United Nations, in 1997, decided to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the date (June 26, 1987) that the Convention Against Torture came into force by declaring June 26 as International Day in Support of Victims of Torture. Torture Awareness Month honors that day and extends the awareness campaign throughout the month of June.

The National Religious Campaign Against Torture has released a free online toolkit to help congregations and religious organizations to observe Torture Awareness Month this year. The interfaith organization also will co-sponsor several public events across the country in June.

NRCAT’s Torture Awareness Month toolkit includes two bulletin inserts (one focused on post-9/11 detainee treatment and one focused on solitary confinement in U.S. prisons), interfaith prayers, a downloadable poster for posting in houses of worship and college campuses, and links to other activities that congregations can conduct and lead throughout June.

Media Advisory: April 21, 2013

Contact: Samantha Friedman, Rabinowitz/Dorf Communications, Office: (202) 265-3000 or cell: (202) 215-9260 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Member of National Task Force on Detainee Treatment Speaks in Pasadena
Task Force released report on two-year investigation this week in Washington

Washington, D.C. – Earlier this week, the Constitution Project’s Task Force on Detainee Treatment released the long-anticipated report of its investigation into the detention and treatment of suspected terrorists. The report, available online at detaineetaskforce.org, is the product of more than two years of research and analysis by a bipartisan, independent panel of experts. Today, Task Force member David Gushee, Distinguished University Professor of Christian Ethics at Mercer University in  Atlanta, Ga., and also an early leader of the National Religious Campaign Against Torture (NRCAT), discussed the issue of U.S.-government sponsored torture and its potentially dangerous legacy, as well as the conclusions of the Task Force. The conversation took place as part of Sunday’s Rector’s Forum at All Saints Church in Pasadena, a 4,000-member Episcopal parish. The Rector's Forum is the main adult education program held at the church each Sunday between the two largest services. 

Rev. Ed Bacon, the rector of All Saints Church, introduced Gushee and moderated questions and discussion, and Virginia Classick, vice president of the national board of NRCAT, and a member of All Saints Church, was also present on behalf of NRCAT and the church.

“The report breaks the recent silence and long-term obfuscation about our nation’s descent into state-sponsored torture,” Gushee said on the Task Force’s conclusions. “It offers the cleansing power of truth and more than a hint of national repentance. I call for the release of the Senate Intelligence Committee report as well. Let the truth be told and the moral reclamation begin.”

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: April 16, 2013

CONTACT: Samantha Friedman, Rabinowitz/Dorf Communications, (202) 265-3000 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

National interfaith anti-torture group applauds Constitution Project report on detainee treatment

Washington, D.C. – Today, the Constitution Project’s Task Force on Detainee Treatment released the report of its investigation into the detention and treatment of suspected terrorists. The report, available online at detaineetaskforce.org, is the product of more than two years of research and analysis by a bipartisan, independent panel of experts. As part of its mission opposing government-sponsored torture and its ongoing call for the establishment of a commission of inquiry investigating post-9/11 U.S. torture policies and practices, the National Religious Campaign Against Torture supports the Constitution Project’s attention to and investigation into detainee treatment and is helping to make the public aware of the findings and recommendations in the Task Force’s report.

“The Task Force report addresses a number of important issues  about the treatment of detainees (including the contorted legal analyses that provided cover for the decision to use torture, the accounts of eye witnesses to the many acts of torture, the unethical role of numerous medical professionals, the impediments to the work of the International Red Cross, and the location and number of torture sites),” said Rev. Richard Killmer, executive director of the National Religious Campaign Against Torture. “But the central finding is the unanimous, unequivocal agreement that what was done was in fact torture and violated our own laws, Constitution and treaties; that what happened was ‘unprecedented’; and that what happened requires a national response to acknowledge, condemn, repair, and prevent the future use of torture and cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: April 10, 2013

CONTACT: Samantha Friedman, Rabinowitz/Dorf Communications: (202) 265-3000 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

National interfaith anti-torture group joins coalition opposing possible CIA promotion of anyone responsible for torture

WASHINGTON – Today, a coalition of human rights groups sent a letter to CIA Director John Brennan asking him not to promote anyone to be head of the CIA’s Clandestine Service who ran a CIA “black site,” helped craft and operate an interrogation program that included torture, or ordered the destruction of videotapes depicting torture. Rev. Richard Killmer, Executive Director of the National Religious Campaign Against Torture, released the statement below describing why his organization signed onto the letter.  Go to full text of the letter.

"People of faith know that torture is always wrong, and people of faith also know that injustice cannot be condoned. We are very concerned by reports that an individual who was responsible not just for torture, but also for destroying the evidence of torture, is being considered for promotion within the CIA. If true, these reports suggest that there not only has not been justice for those who engaged in torture, but that in fact, those who tortured or authorized torture may be promoted.