FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE November 6, 2013
Contact: Samantha Friedman, West End Strategy Team, (202) 776-7700 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Faith Group Responds to Report Showing that Medical Professionals Participated in Torture and Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment
Washington, D.C. – A recently released report, “Ethics Abandoned Medical Professionalism and Detainee Abuse in the War on Terror,” details evidence showing that medical professionals violated ethical principles in their treatment of post-9-11 detainees. The report shows that medical professionals reviewed interrogation methods and approved forms of torture, including waterboarding. They also advised interrogators on whether to increase the harshness of interrogations.
Rev. Richard Killmer, executive director of the National Religious Campaign Against Torture, responded to the report by saying, “Medical professionals, like people of faith, have an obligation to care for others. This troubling report shows that contrary to that obligation, medical professionals violated their ethical standards and basic morality by participating in interrogations that included forms of torture. This is a tragedy that must not happen again.”
Matt Hawthorne, NRCAT policy director, noted, “The report recommends something the National Religious Campaign Against Torture has long advocated -- the public release of the Senate Intelligence Committee’s review of CIA interrogation practices so that the American people, including future decision-makers, know the facts about torture and the terrible consequences for those who use it. Public knowledge of those facts will hopefully prevent us from putting other medical professionals in a position where they feel compelled to abandon their ethics and morality and participate in or justify the abuse of detainees. This new report on medical professionalism and detainee abuse is one more reason the Senate Intelligence Committee must move forward and release the results of its investigation to the public.”
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 325 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. More information is available at www.nrcat.org.
###
