ISNA Joins Call for an End to Torture

Posted Jun 17, 2006      •Permalink      • Printer-Friendly Version Bookmark and Share

Plainfield, IN - 6/14/06 – The Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) was a cosignatory on the full-page advertisement on the op-ed pages of the New York Times published June 13 by the National Religious Campaign Against Torture (NRCAT), an interfaith body that is striving for the elimination of torture and cruel, inhumane and degrading treatment as part of U.S. policy.

The 27 signatories, including Nobel laureates former President Jimmy Carter and Elie Weisel, and Dr. Sayyid Muhammad Syeed, National Director of the ISNA Office of Interfaith and Community Alliances(IOICR).

SEE: “Torture is a Moral Issue” Ad (National Religious Campaign Against Torture, 6/13/06)

The ad copy states: 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. Any policies that permit torture and inhumane treatment are shocking and morally intolerable.

“Nothing less is at stake in the torture abuse crisis than the soul of our nation. What does it signify if torture is condemned in word but allowed in deed? Let America abolish torture now - without exceptions.”

“Furthermore, in a troubling development, for the first time in our nation’s history, legislation has now been signed into law that effectively permits evidence obtained by torture to be used in a court of law.”

The joint statement signed by the interfaith leaders calls upon Congress and the President to remove all ambiguities by prohibiting:

• Exemptions from the human rights standards of international law for any arm of government.
• The practice of extraordinary rendition, whereby suspects are apprehended and flown to countries that use torture as a means of interrogation.
• Any disconnection of “cruel, inhumane and degrading treatment” from the ban against “torture” so as to permit inhumane interrogation.
• The existence of secret U.S. prisons around the world.
• Any denial of Red Cross access to detainees held by U.S. government overseas.

The statement also calls for an independent investigation of human right abuses at U.S. installations like Guantanamo, Abu Ghraib and Bagram Air Force Base in Afghanistan.

ISNA invites all Americans to help amplify the effect of this unprecedented action. They can:

• Tell other people you know about the ad.
• Feature notice of this ad on the home page of your congregation’s website.
• Take this ad to your Islamic center and encourage individuals there to endorse the NRCAT “Torture is a Moral Issue” statement.
• Place this ad in your masjed newsletter.
• Raise money to place a copy of this ad in your local newspaper.
• Send notice of this ad to your congregation’s listserve, with a link to the ad or the NRCAT homepage, suggesting that members of the congregation make arrangements for wide re-broadcast to religious and secular groups.
• Share all press copies of the ad and articles about the ad with ISNA and NRCAT via email at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).

For more information about anti-torture action ideas, visit the websites of NRCAT’s member organizations.

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