A former prisoner at Guantanamo Bay, state lawmakers and a human rights attorney are among the scheduled participants in a Saturday, May 3, conference at Duke that explores various aspects of torture.
"Waterboarding, Ghost Planes and Guantanamo: Inside America's Secret War" is co-sponsored by groups including North Carolina Stop Torture Now and the Duke Human Rights Center. The event, which is from 10 a.m.-3:30 p.m. at the John Hope Franklin Center (2204 Erwin Road, Durham), is free and open to the public. Lunch will be available at 12:30 p.m.
Among the scheduled speakers are Moazzam Begg, a former Guantanamo detainee and author of Enemy Combatant: My Imprisonment at Guantanamo, Bagram, and Kandahar, and Brad Garrett, a retired FBI officer and ABC News consultant.
Tina Monshipour Foster, a human rights lawyer and founder of the International Justice Network, which has represented war on terrorism detainees, will talk on "The New Guantanamo: Bagram and Beyond."
The event will also include a round-table discussion with Garrett and Foster and afternoon workshops dealing with topics such as the use of international human rights law "to expose the U.S. government's enforced disappearance and torture." Part of the discussion will focus on an airstrip in Johnston County, N.C., near Smithfield, that has been documented as being the place of origin for several "extraordinary rendition" flights.
State Rep. Paul Luebke and state Sen. Ellie Kinnaird, both Democrats, will take part in another afternoon workshop that explores legislative efforts to stop torture.
For more information, contact Professor of Cultural Anthropology Orin Starn (ostarn@duke.edu) or N.C. Stop Torture (contact@ncstoptorturenow.net).