Contact: Medea Benjamin, medea@codepink.org

Disgruntled Heiress teams up with Code Pink to throw posh prison send-off for CIA Torture Whistleblower John Kiriakou

Where: Hay-Adams Hotel, 800 16^th St NW, Washington DC

When: 7:30pm-9:30pm, Thursday, February 21

When is going to federal prison is the classiest thing you can do? When CODEPINK and Fresh Juice party—with the help of some old money—throw a gala reception for CIA torture whistleblower John Kiriakou. On February 28, Kiriakou begins a 30-month stint in federal prison for speaking out against US torture. 

The party hostess, Philadelphia heiress Naomi Pitcairn, says she insisted on the Hay-Adams as the location for a “going away” party because it reminds her of more civilized times. “My ancestors were staunch Republicans, who raised me to believe that things like torture belonged to the middle ages and were best left there,” says Pitcairn. “It is beyond me why our country is punishing this gentleman for the ‘crime' of informing the American people of atrocities committed in their name. Clearly, all the wrong people are being sent to prison these days.”

Jesselyn Radack, one of Kiriakou's lawyers who is herself a whistleblower, agrees. “John would not be going to jail if he had actually tortured someone. Yet this brave hero blew the whistle on this unseemly practice, and the government has made him its fall guy for its dastardly deeds,” says Radack.

Kiriakou, a father of five, is going to prison with his head held high. “I will wear my conviction as a badge of honor.  I will oppose torture forever, no matter the consequences.”

Mr. Kiriakou may go quietly, as he remains humble and self-sacrificing, but CODEPINK and Fresh Juice Party intend to be heard. “If the American people knew that the whistleblower is going to prison instead of the torturers, they would be outraged,” says CODEPINK codirector Medea Benjamin. “By celebrating Mr. Kiriakou's noble sacrifice in high style, we hope to bring attention to this ongoing travesty of justice.”