NC Stop Torture Now!

There is a group of activists in eastern North Carolina working on stopping torture, or at least, stopping companies in North Carolina from assisting the CIA in torture flights.

They are called “NC Stop Torture Now”.

They are working to stop Aero Contractors, a private airplane company located at Johnston County Airport, located in Smithfield, NC. Aero is allegedly involved in a CIA program of kidnap-and-torture known as “extraordinary rendition” where human beings are rendered to a foreign country where they are tortured. Aero Contractors has had a long-term contract with the CIA, and Aero planes and pilots have been indicted in Germany for the kidnapping of Khaled El Masri. He is German citizen picked up in Macedonia, flown to Afghanistan, tortured and held for five months. He was released by the CIA with no charges filed.

And he is suing Aero Contractors and the CIA in German federal court.

And when this news broke, some folks in North Carolina got busy. As per this article in Indy media:

That's when a handful of activists like Walt and Allyson Caison, who live near the airport in Smithfield, took up the gauntlet. Christina Cowger of Raleigh became the spokesperson. Josh McIntyre and Linda S. Barnes, members of Raleigh's Amnesty International chapter, signed on, as did Mia Scoggins-Austin, Stephanie Eriksen and Roger Ehrlich of Raleigh. Chuck Fager and Wendy Michener from Quaker House in Fayetteville organized a Cumberland County contingent. They had in common their conviction, as people of faith from various denominations, that torture is morally wrong as well as constitutionally forbidden and practically useless. "The torture of another human being, by anyone, for any reason, diminishes us all," says Scoggins-Austin, "and chips away at our humanity."

These activists have been at it for awhile now. In 2006, Christina Cowger came to Asheville area and spoke about their efforts, but the bulk of the work done has been done by activists in the east, not in the western part of the state. They first had a protest at Johnson County Airport, and they have done a dozen protests since. The Indy media article reports that 300 people came to the last protest.

They have also put some effort into convincing state and federal authorities that the charges that El Masri has brought in Germany are worthy of investigation here in the USA. They are also interested in, as their name implies, stopping torture, and stopping rendition.

The Indy media article goes on to state that the group has received little publicity from the corporate media. Two members trespassed onto the tarmac, and arrested, but charges were dropped. They have worked on getting NC Representatives in DC to address this issue, with no success yet. Rep. Markey (D-Mass) has introduced a bill, but no NC Representatives have signed on as co-sponsors. They also had no success with Governor Easley, or the Johnston County Board of Commissioners. But they have had one success – as the article points out:

But STN has made headway in one place: the statehouse. In October, 12 North Carolina House members, all Democrats, wrote to the State Bureau of Investigation asking for a probe of Aero. "It appears," their letter said, "that Aero Contractors, in flying suspects to overseas torture sites, violated North Carolina and federal laws concerning conspiracy to commit torture." The signers included Reps. Linda Coleman, Deborah Ross and Jennifer Weiss of Wake County and Paul Luebke of Durham.

When N.C. Attorney General Roy Cooper said he lacked authority to investigate the firm, the 12 lawmakers introduced House Bill 1682, calling for investigative state grand juries in cases of apparent or attempted "torture, kidnapping or the enforced disappearance of persons."

Ross, who chairs a House judiciary committee, helped move the bill forward to the N.C. Sentencing Commission, which makes recommendations about criminal statutes. It was a way to keep the bill alive for the short legislative session in '08, where Ross thinks it has a chance to be enacted.

This is an update on the status of HB 2417 (Crimes of Torture and Enforced Disappearance) as sent to me via email from a friend working on this issue. This information was put together by Lisa Ray, legislative assistant to Larry Hall. The sponsors and co-sponsors listed are all members of the NC House of Representatives.

House Bill 2417

2007-2008 Session
Crimes of Torture and Enforced Disappearance

This bill was sent to appropriations on 06/19/08.

Sponsors - Primary: Luebke; Harrison; Coleman; Jones;
Sponsors - Co: M. Alexander; Bordsen; Bryant; Carney; Cotham; Farmer-Butterfield; Fisher; Glazier; Hall; T. Harrell; Hill; Insko; Martin; Michaux; Mobley; Parmon; Pierce; Ross; Underhill; Wainwright; Weiss; Wilkins; Womble;

History
Date Action
05/21/2008 [H] Filed
05/26/2008 [H] Passed 1st Reading
05/26/2008 [H] Ref To Com On Judiciary II
05/28/2008 [H] Withdrawn From Comm
05/28/2008 [H] Re-ref Com On Judiciary I
06/19/2008 [HA] Reptd Fav Com Substitute
06/19/2008 [H] Re-ref Com On Appropriations

Abbreviations Key
H = House Action
HA = Adopted in the House

And in the meantime, Stop Torture Now will continue to pressure lawmakers, continue to monitor Aero Contractors, and continue to educate people in North Carolina about what is happening.

And a list of some sites in NC:

Lexington: A front company for torture taxi planes, Devon Leasing, formed here by a local attorney.
Raleigh: State capital, where state officials continue to avoid calls to investigate torture-related activities at Aero and elsewhere.
Moyock: Blackwater Corporation is here. Its Presidential Airways planes tracked on torture taxi flights.
Camp Mackall: Home of Delta Force, torture flights tracked to its airfield.
Fort Bragg - Fayetteville: Torture training for Gitmo & other sites; torture flights CIA front companies.
Smithfield: Home of Aero Contractors. Hundreds of “torture taxi” flights started here.
Kinston: Aero Contractors used a hanger at the Global Transpark for a plane used in many of its torture taxi flights.
This list of sites and information on the sites came from Quaker House, and was current through 06-21-07.