NRCAT Press Releases

Prepared Remarks by the Rev. Richard Killmer, Executive Director
National Religious Campaign Against Torture
January 11, 2012 in Washington, DC

The Power of Symbols: The Need to Close Guantanamo
On the Tenth Anniversary of the Opening of the Detention Center at Guantanamo

The religious community knows well the power of symbols. Religious symbols motivate people of faith to do good and even courageous acts. Some religions see God in the symbol itself amplifying its power to motivate.

Symbols can also be destructive. They can confuse as well as foster dangerous behavior. Because it is the symbol of U.S. torture policies, the detention center at Guantanamo is a profoundly destructive symbol.

Guantanamo is the symbol of our country’s violation of our deepest values. Regardless of how it is operated now compared to how it was operated in earlier years, it stands in the minds of hundreds of millions of people in our nation and around the globe as the place where America broke faith with itself and used torture as an interrogation technique. Torture is immoral, illegal, and never justifiable – without exception.

For Immediate Release: January 11, 2012

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

NRCAT Executive Director Joins Speakers at White House Rally, Calls on President Obama to Close Guantanamo Bay Prison
Groups mark 10th anniversary of first detainees imprisoned at Guantanamo Bay with rally, human chain and interfaith service

Washington, D.C.  – Today, the National Religious Campaign Against Torture (NRCAT) helped organize and lead national events in Washington marking the 10th anniversary of the day the first detainees were imprisoned in the U.S-controlled detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.  The 66 organizations co-sponsoring the events in Washington joined together in a call for the U.S. government to close the detention center at Guantanamo Bay.

Through a rally at Lafayette Park, a human chain, and an interfaith service, participants, who also expressed opposition  toward detention provisions in the 2012 National Defense Authorization Act that violate human rights, gathered together in solidarity to urge President Obama to keep his campaign promise and shut down Guantanamo.  The detention center has become a symbol of an era in which the U.S. government used torture as an interrogation technique

Rev. Richard Killmer, Executive Director of NRCAT, was one of several leaders representing human rights organizations, members of the military, legal experts and families of 9/11 victims, to address the more than 1,000 people gathered in the cold rain in Lafayette Park for the rally.

For Immediate Release: January 11, 2012

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

NRCAT Joins Broad Coalition Opposing NDAA and Calling on President Obama to Keep His Promise and Shutter Guantanamo Bay Now
Groups mark 10th anniversary of first detainees imprisoned at Guantanamo Bay with rally, human chain starting at White House; military, legal, religious and 9/11 families among speakers’ list

Washington, D.C.  – Today, the National Religious Campaign Against Torture (NRCAT) participated in a day of national events in Washington its leadership helped plan to mark the 10th anniversary of the first detainees being jailed in the U.S-controlled detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.  The more than 50 organizations co-sponsoring the events in Washington united in a call for the government to close the detention center at Guantanamo Bay.

Through a series of events , including a rally at Lafayette Park beginning at 12 p.m., a human chain, and an interfaith service, participants opposing the detention provisions in the 2012 National Defense Authorization Act that violate human rights gathered together in solidarity to urge President Obama to keep his promise and shut down Guantanamo, which has become a symbol of an era of torture for the U.S. government.

(Washington, DC) Interfaith Action for Human Rights, a Mid-Atlantic Partner of NRCAT, is pleased to offer a Speakers Bureau for the region and the nation.

Speakers are available to address audiences in a variety of settings from college and seminary campuses to special forums and adult education classes at religious congregations.  Speakers also have access to a range of short videos produced by the National Religious Campaign Against Torture, which can be shown to accompany speeches and to spark audience discussion.

For Immediate Release
Thursday, January 5, 2012

Broad Coalition Opposes NDAA and Calls on President Obama to Keep His Promise and Shutter Guantanamo Bay Now
Groups will mark 10th anniversary of first detainees imprisoned at Guantanamo Bay with rally, human chain starting at White House; military, legal, religious and 9/11 families among speakers’ list

Contacts:
AIUSA:  Sharon Singh, (202) 509-8194, or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
NRCAT: Samantha Friedman, office: (202) 265-3000 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
CCR: Jen Nessel, (212) 614-6449 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
WAT: Jeremy Varon, (732) 979-3119 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

(Washington, D.C.) – A broad coalition of human rights groups and other like-minded organizations will mark the 10th anniversary of the first detainees being jailed at the U.S.-controlled detention facility in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, on Wednesday, January 11, 2012, by holding a rally at Lafayette Park in Washington, D.C., beginning at 12 p.m. Participants oppose the detention provisions in the 2012 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) that violate human rights and are urging President Barack Obama to keep his promise and shut down the detention facility.

Speakers at the rally include Colonel Morris Davis, executive director of the Crimes of War Education Project, who previously served as the chief prosecutor for the office of military commissions at Guantánamo Bay; Talat Hamdani, mother of Salman Hamdani, an emergency medical technician who died in the September 11, 2001 attacks while helping people at the Twin Towers in New York City and Ramzi Kassem, an attorney who represents Guantanamo and Bagram detainees and supervises the Creating Law Enforcement Accountability & Responsibility (CLEAR) project at CUNY School of Law.

For Immediate Release: December 14, 2011
Contact: Samantha Friedman, office: (202) 265-3000 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

People of Faith Say the Decision is Still the President’s: Veto the NDAA

Washington, D.C. – In response to a decision by President Obama’s senior advisors not to recommend a veto of the National Defense Authorization Act, Rev. Richard Killmer, Executive Director of the National Religious Campaign Against Torture, released this statement:

“This bill contains dangerous provisions that would authorize the use of indefinite detention without trial and make it more difficult to close the prison at Guantanamo Bay.  Supporters of the bill have argued, as if it were a good thing, that this bill would even allow the government to detain indefinitely American citizens captured on American soil without trial.  This legislation is contrary to American values and American traditions.

As people of faith, we know that the right cause is also sometimes a lonely cause.  President Obama seemingly stands alone on this issue.  Congress is about to pass this destructive legislation.  The President’s advisors have abandoned their opposition to the bill.  But, as president, President Obama is still in a position to stand up for American values and stop this legislation.  The decision is his, not his advisors.  He can, and should, veto this bill.  If he does, he will find that Americans of all faiths will stand with him.”

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For Immediate Release: Monday, December 5, 2011
Contact: Samantha Friedman, office: (202) 265-3000 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

(Note: This press advisory is issued along with Amnesty International, Center for Constitutional Rights and Witness Against Torture)

 Broad Coalition Calls on President Obama to Keep His Promise and Shutter Guantanamo Bay Now
Groups will mark 10th anniversary of first detainees imprisoned at Guantanamo Bay with rally, human chain starting at White House

(Washington, D.C.) – A broad coalition of human rights groups and other like-minded organizations will mark the 10th anniversary of the first detainees being jailed at the U.S.-controlled detention facility in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, on Wednesday, January 11, 2012, by holding a rally at Lafayette Park in Washington, D.C., beginning at 12 p.m. Participants are urging President Barack Obama to keep his promise and shut down the detention facility.

After the rally, representatives from the organizations will come together for a visually dramatic human chain and vigil to illustrate their steadfastness in pushing the Obama administration and Congress to return to the rule of law. During the rally and vigil, activists will be wearing orange jumpsuits and holding a myriad of signs and other visuals expressing their desire to close down the detention center.

Media is encouraged to attend and cover the rally and vigil.  Details below:

For Immediate Release: December 2, 2011
Contact: Samantha Friedman, office: (202) 265-3000 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

People of faith grateful Senate opposed return to days of secret torture, but decry legislation authorizing indefinite detention

Washington, D.C. – During this week’s debate on the National Defense Authorization Act, the Senate considered a series of issues relating to the treatment of detainees.  Rev. Richard Killmer, Executive Director of the National Religious Campaign Against Torture, expressed relief the Senate did not take up Sen. Kelly Ayotte’s amendment that would have created a secret list of permissible interrogation techniques separate from those approved by the Army Field Manual, yet expressed dismay that the Senate bill authorizes indefinite detention.

NRCAT released the following statement:

“We are grateful to the Senate leadership for its wisdom in not taking up Senator Ayotte’s amendment to create a secret list of interrogation techniques that breach the boundaries laid out in the Army Field Manual.  Such an amendment would have rolled back President Obama’s executive order banning torture and potentially returned us to the dark days of secret torture. 

For Immediate Release: November 16, 2011
Contact: Samantha Friedman, office: (202) 265-3000 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

A Plea to Affirm American Values, Not American Fears
People of faith speak out against Congressional action to codify indefinite detention and to keep Guantanamo open

Washington, D.C. – In response to the most recent version of detainee provisions in the Senate fiscal year 2012 National Defense Authorization Act, Rev. Richard Killmer, Executive Director of the National Religious Campaign Against Torture, released this statement:

“Imprisoning someone for years at a time, without trial or a set prison term, is a morally troubling thing to do.  Yet, during the past decade, our government has done just that.  This week, for the second time, the Senate Armed Services Committee has moved to endow this practice with the Congressional seal of approval by advancing legislation – included in the National Defense Authorization Act – that would explicitly give the government the authority to use indefinite detention.  This is a mistake.

For Immediate Release: November 8, 2011
Contact: Samantha Friedman, office: (202) 265-3000 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Washington, D.C. – Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who helped design and approve the Bush administration’s torture interrogation program during her tenure as National Security Advisor, recently released a memoir on her years in the administration.  Despite public expectation that the book would attempt to explain or at least acknowledge such highly controversial decisions of the Bush administration, in more than 700 pages, she fails to even mention the word torture, let alone take responsibility for her own very significant role in developing those policies.

Rev. Richard Killmer, Executive Director of the National Religious Campaign Against Torture, released this statement today in response to the book: