Fred Morris (right) with Dom Hélder Câmara (left)

Fred Morris, a Methodist pastor, worked in rural churches in Brazil in the 1960s before working in a multi-faith community center in Recife, Pernambuco, where he met radical Catholic leader Dom Hélder Câmara. At the time, he also worked as a stringer for Time magazine. On September 30, 1974, he was arrested and tortured by the Brazilian military.

To this day, Morris is not sure why he was tortured—he guesses it had to do with his affiliation with Dom Hélder, whom the government regarded as a dangerous subversive, or the favorable Time article published about Dom Hélder early that year.

Read Torture and Oppression in Brazil, the report of the Senate committee hearing in which Morris testifies to his torture and that of other church figures in Brazil.

Read this Christian Century article about Morris’ experience of torture, published in 1975. For a more contemporary perspective on Morris’ torture, look at this article from 2007, written by Morris about his experience in Brazil in the 70s.