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 (931)

This document, prepared by the Chief of Medical Services, summarizes and reflects upon the rendition, detention and interrogation program. The findings include that in a particular no evidence was found that the use of waterboard produced ...
A letter from the CIA to OLC requesting that the OLC reaffirm its analyses in several previously issued memos relating to interrogation. The letter states that "we rely on the applicable law and OLC guidance to assess the lawfulness of detention ...
June 13, 2016
Legal Memo, Letter
CIA General Counsel
Jack Goldsmith
EIT, SERE, Use of water, Water dousing, Physical assault, Stomach/abdominal slap, Environmental manipulation, Temperature
These guidelines, issued by George Tenet, detail permissible interrogation techniques (including EITs), medical and psychological personnel who must be present, interrogation personnel, approvals required, and recordkeeping requirements.
This photo most likely depicts the injured leg of Manadel Al-Jamadi, an Iraqi man captured by Navy SEALs in November 2003 and tortured and killed by CIA interrogators at the Abu Ghraib prison. The gruesome details of Al-Jamadi’s abuse and killing ...
Feb. 05, 2016
Photograph
Manadel Al-Jamadi
Physical assault
This photo relates to the case of a “high value” Iraqi detainee, who, according to a report by The Constitution Project, was Ibrahim Khalid Samir al-Ani, a Baathist intelligence officer wrongly accused of having met with 9/11 hijacker Mohammed ...
Feb. 05, 2016
Photograph
Physical assault, General, Stress positions, Cramped confinement
This document is the CIA's response to the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence's Study of the Central Intelligence Agency's Detention and Interrogation Program. "The comments presented in this paper on The Senate Select Committee on ...
This document expresses the minority views of Vice Chairman Chambliss and Senators Burr, Risch, Coats, Rubio, and Coburn written in response to the full Committee Study of the Central Intelligence Agency's Detention and Interrogation Program. ...
This document is a statement from an unknown military suspect concerning his/her knowledge of allegations of mistreatment of Manadel Al-Jamadi, who was held at Abu-Ghraib while in the custody of Foxtrot Platoon, SEAL Team #7. This military ...
Jan. 14, 2014
Interview (Statement)
Manadel Al-Jamadi
Physical assault
Two pages of a Human Rights First report that includes a profile of the homicide of Manadel al-Jamadi, an Iraqi citizen captured and tortured in Abu Ghraib by Navy SEALS and CIA personnel. Al-Jamadi died on November 4, 2003 after being tortured ...
Jan. 14, 2014
Other
Human Rights First
Manadel Al-Jamadi
EIT, Use of water, Water dousing, Physical assault
Death certificate of Manadel Al-Jamadi accompanied by a CID executive summary of his death. The summary asserts that Al-Jamadi died of a heart attack after being released from Navy Seal Team #7 and the OGA interrogation team. The CID will ...
Jan. 14, 2014
Non-legal Memo, Medical (Death Certificate)
Manadel Al-Jamadi
Physical assault