Mayor John Hieftje to Issue Proclamation to Coincide with Film Showings, Banner Hangings, and other Torture Awareness Month Activities

MEDIA ADVISORY, June 12, 2009 Download as a PDF

CONTACT: Chuck Warpehoski, 734-972-8304, chuck@icpj.net

At the Monday, June 15 Ann Arbor City Council meeting, Mayor John Hieftje is scheduled to issue a proclamation declaring June to be “Torture Awareness Month.” This proclamation will coincide with movie showings, banner hangings, and other events organized by the Interfaith Council for Peace and Justice, Michigan Peaceworks, and the National Religious Campaign Against Torture.

“The recently-released ‘torture memos,” show us that torture was permitted by very high levels of our government,” said Chuck Warpehoski, Director of the Interfaith Council for Peace and Justice, “and they show us how much more of this story remains hidden. That’s why we’re urging President Obama to create a Commission of Inquiry on torture, and we call on Congress to pass ‘Golden Rule’ legislation so abuses like this don’t happen again.

Other Torture Awareness Month events planned by Interfaith Council for Peace and Justice and Michigan Peace Works include:

• Movie screening of Torturing Democracy at the Michigan Theater on June 13;

• “Theology on Tap” discussion of torture at Arbor Brewing Company at 7:00 on June 22;

• Hanging of a banner reading “End Torture Forever. Investigate. Legislate.” over State Street from June 19 to 28;

• Downtown sidewalk chalking;

For more details, please visit www.icpj.net/torture.

Proposed Text of Mayoral Proclamation:

PROCLAMATION

Recognizing Torture Awareness Month

June 15, 2009

WHEREAS, documented incidents of torture that have happened by or on behalf of the United States government have been discovered; and

WHEREAS, torture is illegal under the Geneva Conventions, the UN Convention Against Torture, Eighth Amendment to the United States Constitution; and

WHEREAS, over 26,000 religious leaders and other people of faith and conscience have endorsed the National Religious Campaign’s “Statement of Conscience” declaring, “Torture violates the basic dignity of the human person that all religions, in their highest ideals, hold dear. It degrades everyone involved — policy-makers, perpetrators and victims. It contradicts our nation’s most cherished ideals”; and

WHEREAS, thirty-eight retired military leaders, including two former Chairmen of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, have spoken publicly against torture saying, “If degradation, humiliation, physical and mental brutalization of prisoners is decriminalized or considered permissible . . . we will forfeit all credible objections should such barbaric practices be inflicted upon American prisoners”; and

WHEREAS, security experts such as FBI special agent Jack Cloonan, torture victim Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), and former Army JAG Major General Thomas Romig have stated that abuse of U.S. detainees encourages recruitment by terrorist groups; and

WHEREAS, citizens of Ann Arbor, MI, along with groups such as Michigan Peaceworks and the Interfaith Council for Peace and Justice, are participating in efforts to oppose torture, promote a commission of inquiry into U.S.-sponsored torture, and strengthen U.S. laws barring torture; and

NOW THEREFORE, I, John Hieftje, Mayor of Ann Arbor, Michigan, do hereby stand against all forms of torture and inhuman treatment and do proclaim June as Torture awareness month in the City of Ann Arbor. This month will recognize the struggles of those who fight against torture and attempt to help the victims of Torture.

I hereby set my hand and seal

This the 15th day of June, 2009

John Hieftje, Mayor

———

Interfaith Council for Peace and Justice (www.icpj.net) empowers people of faith and people of conscience in the Washtenaw County/Ann Arbor, Michigan area to act on their moral and religious values to build a better world.

# # #

Trackback URI | Comments RSS