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)

This document is a cover letter to the ACLU enclosing 134 released pages for a FOIA request. The letter also identifies exemptions made in documents under the Freedom of Information/Privacy Acts (FOIPA), Title 5, United States Code, Section ...
This is the Autopsy Report & Death Certificate for Mahmud Al Juburi Fallah Ismail. It is reported that Mr. Fallah Ismail was shot while being taken in to custody. The Report states that Mr. Fallah Ismail broke loose from his restraints and ...
Jan. 14, 2011
Medical (Autopsy)
Mahmud Al Juburi Fallah Ismail
Physical assault
This is a CID investigation into the reported unlawful killing of two (2) unknown Iraqi civilians. This Investigation was initiated upon a tip made by a family member of a soldier. The family member claimed that the soldier unlawfully killed two ...
Jan. 14, 2011
Chart/List, Investigative File (CID), Notes, Interview (Statement, Summaries/Notes)
Physical assault
This document is a cover letter to the ACLU enclosing 531 released pages for a FOIA request. The letter also identifies exemptions made in documents under the Freedom of Information/Privacy Acts (FOIPA), Title 5, United States Code, Section ...
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 (Summaries/Notes)
Ismail Na-Ama Ahmed
Physical assault, General, Threat, Assault/death

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 ...

A Vaughn Declaration from David Barron, OLC, relating to 171 OLC documents responsive to the ACLU's FOIA requests of October 7, 2003 and May 25, 2004.  The government originally withheld 181 OLC documents in full, and Judge Hellerstein ...

Sept. 21, 2009
Judicial (Affidavit/Declaration, Vaughn Declaration/Index)
David J. Barron
Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein
David J. Barron, Barack H. Obama, Eric H. Holder, Jr., Dennis C. Blair, Steven G. Bradbury, Marilyn A. Dorn, Sean H. Lane, Heather K. McShain
EIT

A Vaughn Index of 171 OLC documents responsive to the ACLU's FOIA requests of October 7, 2003 and May 25, 2004. The government originally withheld 181 OLC documents in full, and Judge Hellerstein upheld those withholdings. The ACLU appealed. ...

Sept. 21, 2009
Judicial (Vaughn Declaration/Index)
Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein
An autopsy report for Muhammad A. Al-Saaida, a 44-year-old detainee at the Theater Internment Facility (TIF), Camp Bucca, Umm Qasr, Iraq. It is reported that Mr. Al-Saaida was witnessed to be having a medical emergency in his housing unit, ...
Jan. 14, 2011
Medical (Autopsy)
Muhammed Abd Frayh Al-Saaida

A Vaughn Declaration from Wendy Hilton, CIA, relating to 171 OLC documents responsive to the ACLU's FOIA requests of October 7, 2003 and May 25, 2004. The government originally withheld 181 OLC documents in full, and Judge Hellerstein upheld ...

Sept. 21, 2009
Judicial (Affidavit/Declaration, Vaughn Declaration/Index)
Wendy M. Hilton
Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein
Wendy M. Hilton, Leon E. Panetta, Barack H. Obama, George W. Bush
EIT

A Vaughn Declaration from Wendy Hilton, CIA, relating to documents from the files of the CIA Office of the Inspector General (OIG) responsive to the ACLU's FOIA requests of October 7, 2003 and May 25, 2004. The government originally withheld ...

Aug. 31, 2009
Judicial (Affidavit/Declaration, Vaughn Declaration/Index)
Wendy M. Hilton
Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein
Wendy M. Hilton, Leon E. Panetta, Barack H. Obama, George W. Bush
EIT

A Vaughn index describing documents from the files of the CIA Office of the Inspector General (OIG) responsive to the ACLU's FOIA requests of October 7, 2003 and May 25, 2004. The government originally withheld all of the CIA OIG documents in ...

Aug. 31, 2009
Judicial (Vaughn Declaration/Index)
Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein
Scott W. Muller, George J. Tenet
Abu Zubaydah
EIT
This document is a cover letter to the ACLU enclosing 1 released pages for a FOIA request. The letter also identifies exemptions made in documents under the Freedom of Information/Privacy Acts (FOIPA), Title 5, United States Code, Section ...
This document is a cover letter to the ACLU enclosing 872 released pages for a FOIA request. The letter also identifies exemptions made in documents under the Freedom of Information/Privacy Acts (FOIPA), Title 5, United States Code, Section ...
This document is a cover letter to the ACLU enclosing 0 released pages for a FOIA request. The letter also identifies exemptions made in documents under the Freedom of Information/Privacy Acts (FOIPA), Title 5, United States Code, Section ...
This document is a cover letter to the ACLU enclosing 1 released page for a FOIA request. The letter also identifies exemptions made in documents under the Freedom of Information/Privacy Acts (FOIPA), Title 5, United States Code, Section ...
A letter written in response to the ACLU's Freedom of Information Act request relating to the Office of Inspector General's investigation into the interrogation of detainees. The letter notifies Mr. Jaffeer that the U.S. Army Criminal ...

The DOJ's Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR) released this report investigating whether Department of Justice attorneys violated their ethical obligations in issuing several memoranda authorizing the use of Enhanced Interrogation ...

July 19, 2010
Oversight Report
Frank Wolf, Larry Thompson, Ted Ullyot, George J. Tenet, Steven G. Bradbury, Jay S. Bybee, John C. Yoo, Patrick Leahy, David S. Addington, John D. Ashcroft, John B. Bellinger, III, David Brant, Michael Chertoff, Adam Ciongoli, Paul Clement, James B. Comey, Alice Fisher, Timothy E. Flanigan, Ari Fleischer, Jack L. Goldsmith, Alberto R. Gonzales, Stephen Hadley, William J. Haynes, II, John L. Helgerson, H. Marshall Jarrett, Patrick Leahy, Daniel B. Levin, John McCain, John McLaughlin, Paul McNulty, Harriet Miers, Alberto Mora, Steven J. Morello, Scott W. Muller, Robert S. Mueller, Patrick Philbin, Colin L. Powell, Condoleeza Rice, John A. Rizzo, Chuck Rosenberg, Donald H. Rumsfeld, George W. Bush, Michael Mukasey, Mark Filip, Barack H. Obama, David Margolis, Michael Gelles, Robert J. Delahunty, Diane E. Beaver, Thomas J. Romig, David Leitch, John B. Wiegmann, Alan Kreczko, Christopher Schroeder
Abu Zubaydah, Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, Mohammed al Qahtani, Ibn al-Shaykh al-Libi
EIT, SERE, Use of water, Waterboarding, Physical assault, Face slap or insult slap, Stomach/abdominal slap, Attention grasp, Facial hold, Walling, Threat, Assault/death, Family/others, Stress positions, Cramped confinement, Use of phobias, Sleep deprivation, Isolation, Dietary manipulation, Environmental manipulation, Light or sound, Temperature, Hooding/Goggling, Nudity, Other Humiliation, Forced grooming, Manipulation of interrogator’s identity, Other

 [Add description, but leave in the paragraph below.]

Five months after releasing this report to the ACLU, the government released slightly less redacted versions of 7 pages in the report.  You can view those 7 pages, ...

This is the Death Certificate & Medical Records of Muhammad Abd Frayh, a 44-year-old Iraqi detainee at the Theater Internment Facility (TIF), Camp Bucca, Umm Qasr, on Iraq, July 23, 2009. Cause of Death: Unknown; Manner of Death: Unknown
May 06, 2011
Investigative File, Medical (Autopsy, Death Certificate, Physical (non-death))
Muhammad Abd Frayh
Document responds to request for information regarding treatment of detainees at GTMO (Counterterrorism Division, Guantanamo, Inspection Special Inquiry, Case ID # 297-HQ-A1327669-A); the document identifies individual agents who were asked to ...
Document responds to request for information regarding treatment of detainees at GTMO (Counterterrorism Division, Guantanamo, Inspection Special Inquiry, Case ID # 297-HQ-A1327669-A); the responding agent stated that s/he had nothing to report.
A CID investigation into the conduct of 21 soldiers involved in murdering four Iraqi detainees, including charges of Murder, Conspiracy, Failure to Report, False Official Statement, and Obstruction of Justice. Three soldiers "committed the ...
This is the Autopsy report & Death certificate for Adnan Naif Hamid, a 43-year-old detainee at the Theater Internment Facility (TIF), Camp Taji, Iraq. It is reported that Mr. Hamid was admitted to the TIF and underwent medical screening. At the ...
Jan. 14, 2011
Medical (Autopsy, Death Certificate)
Adnan Naif Hamid
This document is a cover letter to the ACLU enclosing 847 released documents for a FOIA request. The letter also identifies exemptions made in documents under the Freedom of Information/Privacy Acts (FOIPA), Title 5, United States Code, Section ...
This document is a cover letter to the ACLU enclosing 977 released pages for a FOIA request. The letter also identifies exemptions made in documents under the Freedom of Information/Privacy Acts (FOIPA), Title 5, United States Code, Section ...
This is the Autopsy Report & Death Certificate for Muhammad Ahmad A.S. Al Hanashi, a detainee at the Guantanamo Bay Detention Facility. It is reported that Mr. Al Hanashi was found in his cell at the Behavior Health Unit (BHU) with a ligature ...
Jan. 14, 2011
Medical (Autopsy, Death Certificate)
Muhammad Ahmad A.S. Al Hanashi

An OLC memo withdrawing the interrogation memo of July 20, 2007.

Aug. 24, 2009
Legal Memo
David J. Barron
Eric H. Holder, Jr.
David J. Barron, Eric H. Holder, Jr., John A. Rizzo, Steven G. Bradbury
This June 11, 2009 OLC memo from David Barron states the withdrawal of an additional OLC opinion regarding CIA interrogation methods. The decision to withdraw was made in connection with the consideration of this opinion for possible public release.
Aug. 31, 2016
Legal Memo
David J. Barron
Attorney General
David J. Barron

The Vaughn declaration of CIA Director Leon Panetta, discussing CIA records that describe the contents of the videotapes destroyed by the CIA.  The declaration notes that the records primarily concern the interrogation of Abu Zubaydah and ...

June 09, 2009
Judicial (Affidavit/Declaration, Vaughn Declaration/Index)
Leon E. Panetta
Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein
Leon E. Panetta
Abu Zubaydah
EIT

The CIA's Vaughn Index of records describing the contents of the interrogation videotapes destroyed by the CIA.  This Index was attached to Leon Panetta's Vaughn Declaration of the same date.  Most of the records listed in the Index ...

June 09, 2009
Judicial (Vaughn Declaration/Index)
Leon E. Panetta
Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein
Abu Zubaydah
EIT, Waterboarding, Use of water
This is a CID investigation in to the reported death of an unnamed Iraqi male. The investigation was initiated when the CID investigator received an request to investigate an allegation that a member of the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), ...

A list of records that were contemporaneous and derivative to the CIA's destruction of the interrogation videotapes.  The records listed describe the contents of the destroyed tapes.  The list was produced to the ACLU and the Court ...

May 18, 2009
Judicial (Vaughn Declaration/Index)
Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein
This is a CID investigation in to the death of Marwan Taha Ahmed, a detainee at Theater Internment Facility (TIF), Camp Cropper. It is reported that on the morning of November 26, 2007, Mr. Ahmed failed to report for the daily headcount of ...
Jan. 14, 2011
Investigative File (CID), Notes, Photograph, Medical (Autopsy, Death Certificate), Interview (Statement, Summaries/Notes)
Marwan Taha Ahmed
Physical assault
This is a CID investigation in to the death of Layith Husayn Khalaf Al Fahadwi, a detainee at Theater Internment Facility (TIF), Camp Cropper, Tent 4, Compound 4. On November 11, 2007 soldiers were alerted that Mr. Al Fahadwi was not well. He was ...
Jan. 14, 2011
Chart/List, Investigative File (CID), Notes, Photograph, Medical (Autopsy, Death Certificate), Interview (Statement, Summaries/Notes)
Layith Husayn Khalaf Al Fahadwi
Physical assault
This is a CID investigation in to the death of a detainee in Hutal City, Afghanistan, on December 4, 2008, and the death of a Department of Defense (DOD) Human Terrain Team (HTT) Member who died of injuries sustained in the same incident. This ...
Jan. 14, 2011
Chart/List, Investigative File (CID), Notes, Photograph, Medical (Autopsy, Death Certificate), Interview (Statement, Summaries/Notes)
Abdul Salam
Physical assault
An email to Jameel Jaffer informing him that, though the Department of Defense is withholding a draft response to Congressional Questions for the Record in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee on June 15, 2005, the final versions of the ...
This is a CID investigation into the death of Ahmad Awwad Ibrahim, a detainee at the Theater Internment Facility (TIF), Camp Bucca, Umm Qasr, Iraq on January 14, 2009. It is reported that around 1:00 am on the morning of January 14th, Mr. Ibrahim ...
Jan. 14, 2011
Investigative File (CID), Notes, Photograph, Medical (Autopsy, Death Certificate), Interview (Statement, Summaries/Notes)
Ahmad Awwad Ibrahim

A letter from the CIA's Office of General Counsel to Judge Hellerstein attaching a Vaughn index of records from August 2002 that describe the contents of the interrogation videotapes destroyed by the CIA.  The letter explains that the ...

May 01, 2009
Letter, Judicial
John L. McPherson
Alvin K. Hellerstein
John L. McPherson, Alvin K. Hellerstein

A Vaughn index of CIA records, including cables sent from the field to headquarters, relating to the interrogation of Abu Zubaydah.  The CIA stated that the index includes the first half of the records created in August 2002 that describe ...

May 01, 2009
Judicial (Vaughn Declaration/Index)
John L. McPherson
Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein
Abu Zubaydah
This document is a cover letter to the ACLU enclosing 842 released documents for a FOIA request. The letter also identifies exemptions made in documents under the Freedom of Information/Privacy Acts (FOIPA), Title 5, United States Code, Section ...
Cover letter from the FBI to the ACLU accompanying the release of 804 pages of records by the FBI.
Through a Freedom of Information Act request by the ACLU, an 804 out of 845 page document was released regarding an OIG investigation on interrogation of detainees. This document is an explanation of exemptions made in the aforementioned released ...
Cover letter from FBI to ACLU accompanying the release of 804 pages by the FBI.
This is a CID investigation in to the death of Al Monsour Mohammad Al Jobouri, an Iraqi national who was reportedly shot & killed on May 16, 2008 in the Jazeera Desert, Iraq. This CID Report is the criminal investigation of a First Lieutenant ...
Jan. 14, 2011
Chart/List, Investigative File (CID), Notes, Photograph, Medical (Autopsy, Death Certificate), Interview (Statement, Summaries/Notes)
Al Monsour Mohammad Al Jobouri
Physical assault
This April 15, 2009 OLC memo from David Barron states the withdrawal of four previous OLC opinions regarding CIA interrogation methods. The decision to withdraw the four opinions was made in connection with the consideration of these opinions for ...
Aug. 31, 2016
Legal Memo
David J. Barron
Attorney General
This is the Autopsy Report for Ahmad Awwad Ibrahim, a 21-year-old detainee who died at the Theater Internment Facility (TIF) Hospital, Camp Bucca, Umm Qasr, Iraq. It is reported that Mr. Ibrahim was witnessed by another detainee of dying in his ...
Jan. 14, 2011
Photograph, Medical (Autopsy)
Ahmad Awwad Ibrahim
This is a CID investigation in to the death of Lo'y Lafta Hashim, a detainee at Theater Internment Facility (TIF), Camp Cropper, Baghdad, Iraq on December 14, 2008. It is reported that Mr. Hashim was experiencing a medical emergency on Compound ...
Jan. 14, 2011
Investigative File (CID), Photograph, Medical (Autopsy, Death Certificate), Interview (Statement, Summaries/Notes)
Lo'y Lafta Hashim