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 (6709)

RelevanceDateRelease Date
July 06, 2002 | ACLU-RDI 2415
Letter is from Mile Florence Rinaldi of Amnisty International in France to Sec. Def. Rumsfeld in conjunction with Amnesty International's memo on rights of detainees in custody. The letter’s author"Urges" the Secretary to "ensure detainees held ...
June 15, 2006
Letter
Mile Florence Rinaldi
Donald H. Rumsfeld
Donald H. Rumsfeld, Mile Florence Rinaldi
July 30, 2003 | ACLU-RDI 2416
Letter is from a 29 year old British citizen, with copies sent to Colin Powell, Jack Straw (UK Home Secretary), William Farish (US Ambassador to UK), John Howard (PM of Australia) and his local MP (Member of Parliament) in the UK. The letter ...
June 15, 2006
Letter
Paul Wolfowitz
Paul Wolfowitz, Colin L. Powell, Jack Straw, John Winston Howard, Stephen Creswell Timms , William Stamps Farish, IV
Feroz Ali Abassi, Moazzam Begg, David Hicks
Aug. 06, 2003 | DOD | ACLU-RDI 2417
Coalition Provisional Authority memo prescribes standards to be applied in the Iraqi prison system under authority of the Ministry of Justice. States "Basic Principles and Control" for detention. Includes 32 sections with headings such as ...
Dec. 16, 2002 | DOD | ACLU-RDI 2418
DoD memo on recent deaths of detainees at Bagram detention facility. This is a Q&A to be followed when investigating the circumstances of the deaths.
DOD | ACLU-RDI 2419
This DoD Memo addresses the circumstances leading up to the creation of the Guantanamo facility and the conflict Al Qaida and Taliban forces have initiated against the United States and the other western powers. The memo states that the U.S. has ...
Feb. 12, 2004 | DOD | ACLU-RDI 2420
Coalition Provisional Authority Cable to Secretary of Defense discussing Amb. Jones Meeting with International Committee of the red Cross concerning conditions in Iraq and specifically the bombing of the ICRC HQ in Baghdad. Heavily redacted.
June 15, 2006
Cable
Donald H. Rumsfeld
Donald H. Rumsfeld
Dec. 17, 2002 | DOD | ACLU-RDI 2421
DoD memo providing guidance on answering inquiries concerning detainee deaths at the Bagram Detention Facility. This document is related to RDI 2418.
Jan. 26, 2004 | CID | ACLU-RDI 2422
CID information memo for file concerning an investigation in to detainee abuse. The investigation revealed Military Police (MP) and Military Intelligence personnel were notified by Detainee that a detainee within the isolation area possessed a ...
Jan. 20, 2004 | CID | ACLU-RDI 2423
Agent's Investigation Report about detainee abuse in Abu Ghraib. A sworn statement by an Army Specialist who witnessed an Army Captain punch and kick a detainee at the Abu Ghraib detention facility after the detainee had shot an Military ...
June 15, 2006
Investigative File (CID)
Physical assault, General
Jan. 20, 2004 | CID | ACLU-RDI 2424
This sworn Statement by an Army Specialist assigned to the Abu Ghraib Detention Facility concerns the November 3, 2003 shooting by a detainee who gained access to a handgun smuggled in to him. The soldier giving the statement was a member of the ...
June 15, 2006
Investigative File (CID), Interview (Statement)
Physical assault