2021: A Year in Review

NC Council of Churches

Strength in Unity, Peace through Justice

NC No Torture

Following the release of Torture Flights: North Carolina’s Role in the CIA Rendition and Torture Program, the North Carolina Council of Churches unveiled NC No Torture to promote the report’s findings and recommendations. These recommendations seek accountability and transparency for our state’s role in torture, and are focused towards citizens and officials at the local, state, and federal level. By generating greater awareness of the report, NC No Torture works to prevent North Carolina from ever again being used as a launching pad for torture.

The work of NC No Torture builds on the long-standing efforts of North Carolina citizens and organizations who have tirelessly sought accountability and transparency. Since 2005, members of North Carolina Stop Torture Now (NCSTN) have organized protests, met with local and state officials, and educated others about the activities of Aero Contractors. 

In 2017, the non-governmental North Carolina Commission of Inquiry on Torture (NCCIT) was established to do the job our government refuses to do: investigate our state’s role in torture. NCCIT, compromised of a blue-ribbon panel of experts, academics, and community leaders, conducted over 18 months of research and held two days of public hearings. At the hearings, Commissioners heard testimony from experts on interrogation, psychology, torture, and international law. On September 27, 2018, NCCIT released their groundbreaking report Torture Flights. 

Torture Flights reveals that North Carolina’s role in the CIA’s Rendition and Torture program was far more extensive than previously believed. More specifically, evidence indicates that Aero conducted over 80% of the identified CIA renditions during the program’s first stage, between 2001-2006. The report corroborates findings that the company operated primarily out of Johnston County Airport and the Kinston Global TransPark, locations that are subsidized by taxpayer dollars. 

During renditions, individuals were abducted without regard for the rule of law or due process, then transported to CIA “black-sites” or foreign jails where they were interrogated and tortured. Many of those rendered were not involved in any terrorist activity and were later released. In total, North Carolina was complicit in the rendition of 48 men and one woman. The lone woman, Fatima Boudchar, was several months pregnant during her abduction and detention. 

In detention, individuals suffered through various torture techniques, including walling (slamming one’s head against the wall), sleep deprivation, temperature extremes, sodomy, rectal feeding, prolonged stress positions, and physical and sexual assault. During the Commission’s public hearings, testimony from an expert in psychology concluded that the renditions themselves constituted a form of torture. One former detainees referred to the rendition flights as a “torture chamber in the sky.” 

Once citizens became aware of the activities of Aero, they organized protests at the company’s gates, delivered citizens arrests, and called on elected officials to investigate. In response, North Carolina state officials provided Aero with grants to reinforce their security detail and hangar at the public Johnston County Airport. Public records request also reveal coordination between Aero employees and state officials about protests and marches. 

These actions directly implicate our state in violation of state, federal, and international law. 

To date, victims of Aero renditions and their families have not received any form of acknowledgement, redress, or reconciliation. By failing to investigate those responsible and refusing redress for victims, it North Carolina and Aero continue to be in violation of numerous legal obligations (see a report from the UNC School of Law detailing the legal obligations to provide redress to victims of Aero renditions). 

NC No Torture works to generate awareness of our state’s complicity in torture and seeks accountability for these actions.

Important Resources

  • New Report, CIA Unredacted reveals inner workings of Rendition and Torture program and NC connection.
  • Click here to read an op-ed by The Rev. Ken Sehested, curator of prayerandpolitiks.org, an online journal at the intersection of spiritual formation and prophetic action.
  • Click here to learn more about our free Christian study on North Carolina’s role in torture and to download a copy of it for use in your own small group or social justice ministry.

Denominational Resources

Other Resources/Articles

You and your faith community can act in several ways:

  • Download and adapt this sample resolution for use by your peace and justice committee or organization.
  • Look for gatherings of people of faith and conscience who support the opening of a state inquiry into these contracts. Attend a candlelight vigil.
  • Add your individual and/or congregational endorsement of the Report and petition to end torture practices. 
  • Invite a speaker to talk to your community, including church, temple, mosque, or social concerns committee, regardless of your location. (Speakers have addressed groups in Asheville, Chapel Hill, Charlotte, Raleigh, Winston-Salem, etc.)
  • Reach out to other people of faith, friends, neighbors, to enable a groundswell of support to persuade Johnston County Commissioners and the Governor, Attorney General, and the NC legislature to open hearings.
  • Help fund the efforts to encourage the Johnston County Commissioners and the N.C. government to open hearings

  • On June 25, 2019 the Council submitted a letter to Governor’s Cooper’s office urging him to form a task force to investigate Aero Contractors, the North Carolina company responsible for conducting over 80 % of identified CIA Renditions between 2001-2006. The letter also requested that the Governor issue a statement declaring that North Carolina does not support torture. Over 50 judicatory heads and denominational representatives, as well as the Council’s governing board, have signed the letter. A list of action items for the Governor’s consideration was also included.
  • June 26, 2019 the United Nations International in Support of Torture, the Council and North Carolina Stop Torture Now held a vigil outside Governor Cooper’s Raleigh office, calling for him to break the official silence on North Carolina’s role in torture.About 35 people were in attendance, including speakers from Raleigh Friends Meeting, Movement to End Racism & Islamophobia, Eisenhower Chapter 157 Veterans for Peace, NC Peace Action, UNC School of Law, North Carolina Commission of Inquiry on Torture, and T’ruah: The Rabbinic Call for Human Rights. The event coincided with the United Nations International Day in Support of Victims of Torture.
  • On April 30, 2019Representative Verla Insko (D-NC) held a press conference at the North Carolina General Assembly to introduce House Bill 740, which seeks to end North Carolina’s involvement in torture. The bill addresses North Carolina’s role in the CIA’s Rendition and Torture program, where the state utilized public infrastructure to facilitate the CIA’s “torture chambers in the sky.” Rep. Insko was joined by representatives from the North Carolina Commission of Inquiry on Torture and the North Carolina Council of Churches. Click the link below to view the full press conference, as speakers discussed the pivotal role of North Carolina, the process of rendition and illegality, and the need for state accountability when the federal government abdicates responsibility. 
    • Click here to view the full press conference or click below to watch just a section from a specific speaker:
      • Dr. Christina Cowger– Overview of North Carolina’s role in the CIA Rendition, Detention, and Interrogation program
      • Rep. Verla Insko– Introduction of House Bill 740
      • Catherine Read– Major findings from the North Carolina Commission of Inquiry on Torture
      • Jim Coleman– Legal provisions for the Governor and Attorney General to investigate torture
      • The Rev. Dr. Jennifer Copeland– A faith perspective on why the United States turned towards torture
      • Patty McGaffagan– Residential perspective of Johnston County’s torture operation
      • Deborah Weismann– How HB740 aligns the state with its federal and international obligations

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