People from all faiths demand a Commission of Inquiry to investigate the use of torture including its use in medical experiments

June 7, 2010

In light of today’s release of Physicians for Human Rights’ new report, Experiments in Torture: Human Subject Research and Evidence in the ‘Enhanced’ Interrogation Program, Rev. Richard L. Killmer, Executive Director of the National Religious Campaign Against Torture (NRCAT) has responded with the following statement and announced the release of a new video "Accounting for Torture" that describes the PHR report:

"As religious leaders we commend Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) for their groundbreaking work uncovering and documenting evidence of the involvement of United States military and intelligence health professionals in performing experiments, without consent, on detainees in the custody of the U.S. following September 2001."

Such experimentation would violate the legal and ethical protections afforded by the Nuremberg Code, the Geneva Conventions, federal regulations governing human subject research - known as "The Common Rule" - and the federal War Crimes Act.

NRCAT has adamantly opposed and consistently spoken out against U.S.-sponsored torture under the belief that torture is immoral and abhorrent.

Just as adamantly, NRCAT now condemns these alleged acts of illegal and immoral experimentation. Separate and distinct from the torture, such medical experiments could themselves constitute war crimes and possibly crimes against humanity.

With painstaking care, the PHR report details how the experiments and the participation of health professionals in the interrogations of detainees were critical components for the fabrication of a legal framework construed to protect interrogators from prosecution for committing acts of torture. The experiments also served to refine the illegal torture practices used by the U.S. government.

With heavy hearts and a keen sense of urgency, NRCAT calls upon the President and the Congress to establish a Commission of Inquiry to undertake a comprehensive investigation into the use of torture – including its use in medical experiments on detainees – and to pursue the steps required to ensure that U.S.-sponsored torture will never, ever, again be sanctioned and practiced."

Take Action! Send an email to members of Congress and the President urging support for a Commission of Inquiry.