North Carolina is “First in Flight,” but sadly it is also first in torture flights. This Thursday, July 9, representatives from North Carolina Stop Torture Now and the North Carolina Commission of Inquiry on Torture will discuss what we can and should do about the possible complicity of our state government in facilitating “torture taxis.” 

Jess Porta of North Carolina Commission of Inquiry on Torture and Joan Walsh of North Carolina Stop Torture Now will explain the process of “extraordinary rendition,” by which persons arrested extra-judicially “arrested” in one country are allegedly flown to “black sites” in other countries where they could be tortured with impunity. 

According to their Facebook pages, the mission of the organizations is to “address the ‘torture taxis’ of Aero Contractors, Ltd. of Smithfield, and Centurion Aviation of Fayetteville. Both are nominally private companies linked to the operation of aircraft in clandestine support of the CIA’s extraordinary rendition program. 

“Extraordinary rendition is a phrase that disguises the kidnap, detention and torture of individuals alleged to be enemies of the United States, including those guilty of nothing other than being misidentified. We are particularly concerned that state and local government officials and individual citizens recognize their own complicity in the extraordinary rendition program and take steps to provide restorative justice to victims and survivors, to air a full account of human rights violations, and to demand top-down accountability for the authors and perpetrators ...” 

The NCCIT is a non-governmental organization set up to gather and create a complete public record of North Carolina’s involvement in human rights abuses.” 

Don’t miss this opportunity to learn about this important issue—and what concerned folks here in North Carolina can do about it.