Oct. 9, 2006 - NC House Members Call for Investigation of "Torture Taxi" Company
12 House Reps with titanium backbones stand up for human decency, we can be proud, and we can help -
NC-STOP TORTURE NOW
P.O. Box 50345, Raleigh, NC 27650
MEDIA ADVISORY Christian Cowger
October 9, 2006 919/637-7678 (mobile)
House Members Call for Investigation of ‘Torture Taxi’ Company
Twelve members of the North Carolina House of Representatives on October 2, called on Robin Pendergraft, director of the State Bureau of Investigation, to launch an investigation of Aero Contractors, which conducts torture flights for the CIA from the Global TransPark, a state funded agency in Kinston, N.C. (Aero also conducts torture flights from Johnston County Airport, near Smithfield, N.C.)
The N.C. House members, who represent seven North Carolina counties, have sent a letter to Director Pendergraft, with copies to Governor Easley and Attorney General, calling for an SBI investigation of Aero Contractors.
“Aero Contractors have been identified in the media as a participant in the CIA’s ‘rendition’ program, which has flown persons detained in various countries, in United States, to other countries,” the representative wrote. “There, the suspect is held incommunicado and tortured, using methods that would not have been legal in the United States.”
The letter further stated: “It appears that Aero Contractors, in flying suspects to overseas torture sites, violated North Carolina and federal laws concerning conspiracy to commit torture. If this is the case, Aero should no longer be permitted to be a client of the GTP Authority.”
The Representative cite a May 31, 2005, article in the New York Times that detailed Aero’s involvement in torture flights, including the detention, torture, and imprisonment of Khaled El-Masri, a German citizen.
In May 2006, an eastern Virginia district judge dismissed Mr. Masri’s lawsuit against Aero Contractors, former CIA director George Tenet, and other named plaintiffs, agreeing with the defendants that “state secrets” were at issue. The American Civil Liberties Union has filed an appeal with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit in Richmond.
On September 22, 2006, the German TV network ARD identified three Johnston County employees of Aero Contractors who allegedly participated in the abduction of El-Masri. ARD said they were pilots who used the cover names of Eric Fain, James Fairing and Kirk James Bird, and that the CIA allowed them to retain their actual first names.
A grassroots campaign has been underway in North Carolina since November 2005 to convince state and Johnston County officials to investigate Aero Contractors’ participation in CIA-sponsored torture flights. To date, Governor Easley, Chair of the Global TransPark Authority, and other members of Global TransPark Authority Board have declined to initiate an investigation despite numerous requests. Also the Johnston County Board of Commissioners have not initiated an investigation.
*Other contacts
For more information about the Representatives’ letter to Director Pendergraft, contact:
Rep. Paul Luebke, Durham – 919-286-0269 (home), 336-334-5295 (work)
Rep. Jennifer Weiss, Wake – 919-733-5781 (work), 919-678-1367 (home)
For more information about “extraordinary rendition” and the campaign for investigation of Aero Contractors, contact North Carolina Stop Torture Now:
Jerry Surh: 919/513-2219 (work), 919/880-9577 (mobile)
Steven Edelstein, attorney: 919/828-1456 (work)
Allyson Caison: 919/961-4130 (mobile)
Bill Towe: 919/469-0831, billtowepa@juno.com
Useful web links:
Sept. 10, 2006 N.C. a link in torture chain. Barbara Zelter. Charlotte Observer.
http://www.charlotte.com/mld/charlotte/news/15484413.htm
Introductory background on North Carolina Torture Taxis is available at the Saint Louis Indy Media Ctr.,
http://www.stlimc.org/newswire/display/947/index.php
October 2, 2006
Ms. Robin Pendergraft
Director, State Bureau of Investigation
P.O. Box 29500
Raleigh NC 27626
Dear Ms. Pendergraft:
We write as concerned State Representatives to ask you to investigate the actions of Aero Contractors, a contract air carrier that uses the facilities of the state-funded Global TransPark (GTP).
Aero Contractors has been identified in the media as a participant in the CIA-sponsored "rendition" program, which has flown persons detained in various countries, including the United States, to other countries. There, the suspects were held incommunicado and tortured, using methods that would not have been legal in the United States. President Bush, on September 6, 2006, acknowledged that such "renditions" had occurred.
It appears that Aero Contractors, in flying suspects to overseas torture sites, violated North Carolina and federal laws concerning conspiracy to commit torture (See especially the New York Times article of May 31, 2005). If this is the case, Aero should no longer be permitted to be a client of the GTP Authority.
We ask that you examine the Aero situation immediately. Whether or not Aero's activities at the GTP were legal, they certainly violate our sense of morality and human rights. We believe the State of North Carolina should sever any connection to such actions.
We look forward to hearing from you.
Sincerely yours,
Rep. Alma Adams, Guilford
Rep. Martha Alexander, Mecklenburg
Rep. Linda Coleman, Wake
Rep. Melanie Goodwin, Richmond
Rep. Larry Hall, Durham
Rep. Verla Insko, Orange
Rep. Earl Jones, Guilford
Rep. Paul Luebke, Durham
Rep. Deborah Ross, Wake
Rep. William Wainwright, Craven
Rep. Jennifer Weiss, Wake
Rep. Winkie Wilkins, Person
cc: Governor Michael F. Easley
Attorney General Roy Cooper
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