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
Oct. 20, 2003 | Non-US | ACLU-RDI 3974
Inter-American Commission on Human Rights litigation requesting that the Commission take measures to have the legal status of detainees held at Guantanamo be determined by a competent court, and to protect against the torture of detainees.
Dec. 30, 2004
Judicial (Pleading)
Physical assault, Assault/death, Stress positions, Isolation, Temperature, Threat, Environmental manipulation
Oct. 17, 2003 | FBI | ACLU-RDI 2861
The document is a response to a request from the DOD, Criminal Investigation Task Force that the FBI Military Liaison & Detainee Unit (ML&DU) conduct a records check of detainees to appear before the Transfer Review Board. ML&DU "conducted a ...
Oct. 17, 2003 | DOS | ACLU-RDI 4409
State Department cable summarizes discussion at the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe meeting on Human Dimension Implementation Meeting (HDIM) dedicated to rule-of-law issues. The US took "substantial criticism" for its ...
Dec. 23, 2004
Cable
Colin L. Powell
Colin L. Powell
Oct. 17, 2003 | DOA | ACLU-RDI 4762
Medical log book from the Hard Site at Abu Ghraib prison Medical Office listing the detainees and their ailments. Most information is redacted.
Oct. 16, 2003 | DOA | ACLU-RDI 509
This Memo from the Army is dismissing, with prejudice, charges brought in a Court-Martial proceeding in exchange for the soldier pleading guilty to two (2) charges brought in an Article 15 proceeding. The investigation was in regards to ...
Mar. 23, 2005
Legal Memo, Photograph, Interview (Statement), UCMJ (Court-Martial, Article 15)
Face slap or insult slap, Walling, General, Assault/death, Physical assault, Threat
Oct. 16, 2003 | DOA | ACLU-RDI 631
Army Action Plan: Standard Operating Procedures for High Blood Pressure Management at the detainee Hospital at Guantanamo Bay.
Oct. 16, 2003 | DOA | ACLU-RDI 985
A Staff Sargent near Tikrit, Iraq, on September 11, 2003, shot an Iraqi detainee. The shooting was described as "willfully and unlawful". The detainee was shot in the abdomen with a rifle. The SSGT admitted to the act and pleaded for leniency.
Apr. 18, 2005
Non-legal Memo, Investigative File (AR 15-6)
Raymond T. Odierno
Physical assault, General
Oct. 16, 2003 | FBI | ACLU-RDI 3190
Describes logistics and expected outcome of upcoming training workshop by the Behavioral Analysis Unit (BAU)on interviewing extremists.
Oct. 15, 2003 | Non-US | ACLU-RDI 3
Letter inquires about CIA's operations in Afghanistan. Makes formal request to visit CIA's facility at Bagram airbase and all other detention facilities in Afghanistan.
Oct. 15, 2003 | DOA | ACLU-RDI 628
Army Action Plan: Standard Operating Procedures for Vaccinations at the detainee Hospital at Guantanamo Bay