North
Carolina Stop Torture Now
Media
Advisory
Senate
Intelligence Releases Portions of Landmark Torture Report; Will North
Carolina’s Role in Torture Be Addressed?
December 9,
2014
North
Carolina Stop Torture Now welcomes today’s release of the historic
report on
CIA torture by the U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee. The report
validates what human rights investigators and journalists have
demonstrated for a decade: the CIA conducted a years-long, illegal,
and immoral program of torture that has cost our nation terribly in
lost credibility, the enmity of millions around the world, and the
undermining of our democracy.
The
report has special significance in the Tar Heel state for two
reasons. First, Senator Richard Burr is poised to become Chair of
the committee in January. Sen. Burr voted to release the report, but
at the same time signaled
his intention
to attack its conclusions. Second, North Carolina is deeply involved
in the human rights abuses described in the report (details below).
“It
is not only the obligation of the federal government to commit to
transparency and accountability for torture, but our state and its
political subdivisions are also required to provide facts and
details about torture and to accept responsibility for human rights
violations,” said Prof. Deborah Weissman, UNC School of Law. “The
Convention Against Torture and other treaties oblige us to uncover
and take responsibility for our state’s role in the systematic
torture of human beings, now confirmed by the Senate report.”
In
addition to grassroots activists, prominent North Carolinians have
been calling for torture transparency.
More than 190 faith leaders wrote
to Sen. Richard Burr in 2013, calling on him to support release of
the Senate torture report. In addition, over
1,200 North Carolinians
have called for an inquiry on North Carolina’s role in torture.
North
Carolina and CIA-Directed Torture
Although
the report’s executive summary is coming out, North Carolina’s
connections to torture may be buried in the body of the report
itself. A large volume of evidence has been compiled by journalists
and human rights investigators:
North
Carolina has been extensively involved in torture in contravention to
state, federal, and international law, particularly by sustaining key
aviation infrastructure for extraordinary rendition at our public
airports. The
Johnston County Airport has hosted Aero Contractors since
1979, and
Aero remains the airport’s largest tenant. In 2005, the New York
Times exposed
Aero as “a
major domestic hub of the Central Intelligence Agency’s secret air
service.” Aero-operated craft secretly flew detainees to torture
chambers in Jordan, Egypt, Syria, Afghanistan, Morocco, and Libya.
They also repeatedly visited the CIA black sites in Poland and
Romania where torture was performed directly by U.S. officials.
Documentation was supplied to public officials and the media in this
2012 report.
NC-based
planes and crews played key roles in the CIA rendition program.
One of the planes operated by Aero (N379P)
was a Gulfstream V jet nicknamed the “Guantanamo Express.” For a
critical period during the height of the rendition program, Aero also
operated a Boeing business jet (N313P)
from a hangar
it built
at the Global TransPark in Kinston. Together, these two aircraft
conducted dozens of missions in which incapacitated detainees were
taken secretly to prisons where they were held indefinitely and
without access to lawyers, family, or the Red Cross. There, they
were interrogated using torture. Highly skilled pilots and crews
operated and maintained these aircraft, likely with
full knowledge
they were working for the CIA. The names of several of the pilots
have been in
the public record
for many years.
Many
of the detainees transported to torture by Aero were clearly
innocent, were never given due process, and were profoundly damaged.
Those
who survived still suffer deeply. This includes Khaled
el-Masri,
a German citizen of Lebanese descent; Abou
ElKassim Britel,
an Italian citizen of Moroccan descent; Binyam
Mohamed,
a UK legal resident of Ethiopian descent; Khaled
al-Maqtari,
a Saudi national detained in Iraq; and many more. These men were
subjected to brutal treatment. They were strung up in painful stress
positions for long periods and endured vicious beatings including to
their genitals and torso. They suffered prolonged detention in
complete darkness, or were bombarded with blasting sounds. So far,
human rights investigators have documented that over
135 persons
were subjected to extraordinary rendition. Over 30 of these people –
and probably many more – were rendered on flights originating at
Smithfield or Kinston, NC, as documented by flight logs and other
data here.
Since
2005, concerned citizens have repeatedly contacted North Carolina’s
elected officials with information about the state’s role in
torture.
With the release of the Senate Intelligence report on torture, there
can be no excuse for public officials to refuse to address
responsibility and accountability for North Carolina’s role in such
serious human rights violations.
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