Dear Friends,

June is Torture Awareness Month. Join people of faith and conscience nationwide in raising awareness and working to end torture.

This June we are hosting a webinar series, “Lessons From The Front Lines.” RSVP today for Ending Death By Incarceration on June 3 at 1 pm ET. Johnny Perez, the Director of NRCAT’s U.S. Prisons Program, will hold a fireside chat with Amy Fettig, Executive Director of The Sentencing Project. The discussion will take a closer look at death by incarceration, youth life sentences, solitary confinement, the death penalty, and most importantly what needs to happen at this moment to end these torturous sentences and practices.

Have you watched The Mauritanian? The film tells the story of Mohamedou Ould Slahi and his fight for freedom after being detained, tortured, and imprisoned without charge in Guantanamo. Now available to stream for $4.99, we encourage you to watch it and to invite others to watch it as well. If you get a group to watch it (either together or separately) you can then use NRCAT's The Mauritanian Viewing and Discussion Guide to organize a post-watch discussion and advocacy session.

Do you have an anti-torture banner? The whole month of June, and June 26th (the International Day in Support of Victims of Torture) specifically, is a great time for houses of worship to display a banner. If you don’t have a banner but would like to display one, banners are available at a reduced rate or free of charge for congregations to display with messages including “Close Guantanamo” or “Solitary Confinement = Torture.” Please contact Rev. T.C. Morrow at 202-547-1920 or [email protected] if you are interested in acquiring a banner from NRCAT. 

Other June actions you can take to oppose torture include leading a brief prayer vigil on Facebook Live, sharing one of our petitions on social media, or writing a letter to the editor of your local newspaper. For a listing of these and other ideas, visit www.nrcat.org/June2021.

Please complete this brief form to let us know if your faith community will join us in one or more activities this June. This helps NRCAT tell the story of how our national network is acting to end torture. 

Thank you,

The NRCAT Team