For Immediate Release
January 4, 2006
Contact:
Andrew Wimmer 314-249-7890
Louise Lears 314-558-1197
CITIZENS GROUP EXPOSES AERO CONTRACTORS
Trial Thursday in Johnston County, NC
Further Investigation of “Torture Taxi” Operation
A group of citizens from Illinois, Missouri and North Carolina will come together to take part in a number of actions this week in North Carolina to continue their efforts to expose the “torture taxi” operations of Aero Contractors. They will call on Michael F. Easley, the Governor of North Carolina, to take action to shut down the company’s illegal activities at two North Carolina locations.
On November 18, 2005, the group, Stop Torture Now served a peoples’ indictment to Aero Contractors, charging them with multiple counts of violation of U.S. and international laws and treaties banning torture by providing pilots and planes for the CIA’s program of “extraordinary rendition.”
In December, the ACLU filed a civil suit on behalf of a German citizen, Khaled el-Masri, who was kidnapped by the United States and flown to Afghanistan where he was tortured before being released. Aero Contractors was named in the suit.
In November, 14 members of the group were arrested at Aero’s hangar at the Johnston County airport near Smithfield, NC, while serving the indictment. They will stand trial on Thursday, January 5, at 9AM on trespass charges. Two expert witnesses, The Rev. W.W. “Bill” Finlator, a long-time advocate of civil rights, and Daniel Pollitt, a University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill law professor emeritus will appear on the defendants’ behalf.
Following Thursday’s trial, the group will caravan to Aero’s hangar where they will hold a press conference and request access to Aero’s property in order to inspect the company’s flight records and to take depositions from employees.
At the press conference the group will announce its plans to take the campaign against Aero’s torture taxi one step further by delivering copies of the indictment to the Governor of North Carolina and other state officials who serve on the board of Global TransPark Authority in Kinston, NC, where Aero operates a second hangar. The Kinston site houses Aero’s Boeing 737 business jet which plane spotters and flight logs have linked to many of the “extraordinary rendition” flights that have delivered suspects to various detention centers, including U.S. secret prisons in Europe
On Friday, January 6, Stop Torture Now will travel to Global TransPark in Kinston where they will draw the public’s attention to the Aero operation and make further requests to inspect the company’s flight records and to take statements from employees.
Stop Torture Now is a project of the Center for Theology and Social Analysis in St. Louis, MO. Participants in this week’s actions include members of CTSA as well as members of two Catholic Worker communities in North Carolina and Kathy Kelly, co-founder of Voices in the Wilderness.
A copy of the indictment and further details about this week’s actions can be found on the Stop Torture Now website.
Further information about the North Carolina Global Trans-Park and its board of directors can be found on their website.
Further information about the ACLU law suit can be found on their website.
For further information about specific times and locations of this week’s events, call 314-249-7890.
