After September 11, 2001, U.S. officials authorized the cruel treatment and torture of prisoners held in Afghanistan, Iraq, Guantanamo, and the CIA's secret prisons overseas.

This database documents the U.S. government's official experiment with torture. At present, the database contains well over 100,000 pages of government documents obtained primarily through Freedom of Information Act litigation and requests filed by the ACLU, and through litigation of Salim v. Mitchell, a lawsuit brought by the ACLU on behalf of the survivors and the family of a dead victim of the CIA torture program. To learn more about the database, please read the About and Search Help pages. If you're a developer, you can also access this data through our API.

Search Result (523)

RelevanceDateRelease Date
CIA | ACLU-RDI 5083
CIA summary of 60 Minutes program on detainee abuse in Iraq. The summary details the program's review of the released Abu Ghraib photos and some of the U.S. army officials involved in the scandal.
Mar. 15, 2013
Non-legal Memo
Ivan L. Frederick, II, Mark Traecey Patrick Kimmitt, Janis Leigh Karpinski
EIT, Physical assault, General, Sexual, Threat, Use of electricity, Other Humiliation, Sexual
May 23, 2004 | CIA | ACLU-RDI 5091
CIA copy of L.A. Times article reporting on the Pentagon's reversal on its conclusion about the death of Abed Hamed Mowhoush, an Iraqi general who died in U.S. custody in 2003. The article describes the history of the Pentagon's position, which ...
Mar. 15, 2013
Other
Mark Traecey Patrick Kimmitt
Abed Hamed Mowhoush
EIT, Use of water, Other, Physical assault, General, Threat, Family/others, Hooding/Goggling, Environmental manipulation
Jan. 04, 2004 | CIA | ACLU-RDI 5102
CIA copy of an article from the London Independent on Sunday reporting on the death of a son of an Iraqi policeman and the "brutal" treatment of some Iraqi prisoners while in British custody. The article describes physical beatings and violent ...
Mar. 15, 2013
Other
Robert Harkins, William Moore
Baha Mousa, Kifah Taha
EIT, Physical assault, General, Face slap or insult slap, Stomach/abdominal slap, Stress positions, Environmental manipulation, Hooding/Goggling
Apr. 30, 2004 | CIA | ACLU-RDI 5104
CIA copy of a New Yorker article tracing the responsibility for American soldiers brutalizing Iraqis at Abu Ghraib.
Mar. 15, 2013
Other
Janis Leigh Karpinski, Ricardo Sanchez, Antonio Taguba, Ivan L. Frederick, II, Charles A. Graner, Jr., Javal Sean Davis, Megan M. Ambuhl, Sabrina D. Harman, Jeremy C. Sivits, Lynndie Rana England, Joseph M. Darby, Scott Bobeck, Jerry Phillabaum, Donald J. Ryder, Jason Kennel, Thomas Pappas, Steven Jordan, Geoffrey D. Miller, Donald H. Rumsfeld, Ricardo Sanchez
EIT, Use of water, Water dousing, Other, Physical assault, General, Face slap or insult slap, Stomach/abdominal slap, Sexual, Threat, Assault/death, Use of electricity, Environmental manipulation, Hooding/Goggling, Nudity, Other Humiliation, Sexual
Sept. 23, 2009 | DOD | ACLU-RDI 5020

This report concerns allegations that mind-altering drugs were administered to facilitate the interrogation of detainees under DOD control between September 2001 and April 2008. The report concluded that it could not substantiate the claim ...

June 28, 2012
Oversight Report
Patricia A. Brannin
Donald H. Rumsfeld, Peter H. Daly, William Melendez, Jay W. Hood, David M. Edgington, Charles A. Blanchard, Thomas W. Cunningham, James T. Faust, Ronald L. Burgess, Jr., Jay Alan Liotta, Laurence K. Burgess
Jose Padilla
Physical assault, General, Stress positions, Sleep deprivation, Other
Nov. 29, 2004 | Non-US | ACLU-RDI 6328
The document is an untitled letter from a detainee alleging abuse by the American military. The detainee states that he was questioned about the role of Iraqi intelligence in furthering international terrorism and about where Iraq had hidden its ...
June 15, 2011
Letter
Physical assault, General, Walling, Assault/death, Stress positions, Sleep deprivation, Isolation, Light or sound, Temperature, Hooding/Goggling, Threat, Environmental manipulation
Feb. 19, 2008 | NCIS | ACLU-RDI 5795
This is an NCIS investigation into the death of Sadik Abdullah Saoud, and Iraqi civilian who died while being placed in to custody by Battalion Landing Team 2/4 (2/4 "G" Co.), out of Expedition Observation Post (EOP) Playboy Mansion, Barwana, ...
Jan. 21, 2011
Investigative File (NCIS), Interview (Statement, Summaries/Notes)
Abdullah Sadiq Saoud
Physical assault, General
Mar. 09, 2007 | NCIS | ACLU-RDI 5747
This is an NCIS investigation into the death of Ismail Na-Ama Ahmed, an Iraqi civilian who died following a beating he received by Iraqi Police (IP) following his arrest and detention at the Echo Company Forward Operating Base (FOB) Haditha, ...
Jan. 21, 2011
Investigative File (NCIS), Photograph, Medical (Autopsy, Death Certificate), Interview (Summaries/Notes)
Ismail Na-Ama Ahmed
Physical assault, General
Sept. 27, 2006 | NCIS | ACLU-RDI 5751
This is an NCIS investigation into the death of Ismail Na-Ama Ahmed, an Iraqi civilian who died following a beating he received by Iraqi Police (IP) following his arrest and detention at the Echo Company Forward Operating Base (FOB) Haditha, ...
Jan. 21, 2011
Investigative File (NCIS), Interview (Statement, Summaries/Notes)
Ismail Na-Ama Ahmed
Physical assault, General, Threat, Assault/death
July 05, 2005 | NCIS | ACLU-RDI 5815
This is an NCIS investigation into the death of Abu Bachir, a Syrian National. Marines and Iraqi National Guard Forces (ING) stopped and searched a vehicle coming from the direction of Syria. A Red Opal a taxi with three (3) passengers. As the ...
Jan. 21, 2011
Investigative File (NCIS), Notes, Interview (Statement)
Abu Bachir
Physical assault, General