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.
Sworn statement of an Iraqi civilian concerning a woman and her two (2) brothers who supported anti-coalition activities and assisted the Fedayeens in attacking U.S. forces with Improvised Explosive Devises (IEDs). He stated that one of the men ...
Statement of a US Army major. Contains summaries of interviews with two detainees. First detainee, who was arrested on December 24, 2003, reported that he was "beaten ... and punched, ... hung by a nail from the wall with his hands bound behind ...
Sworn statement of a Private First Class guard at 2-3 FA Detainee Holding Facility, Abu Ghraib Prison. Questions and Answers regarding the locations of interrogations and interrogation practices. In response to a question about a specific set ...
Sworn statement of an Iraqi civilian mentions a female detainee and her two (2) brothers as supporting Anti-coalition activities, but states that they "were never threatened, beaten, or abused." Also refers to an Iraqi Policeman.
Sworn statement of a guard at 2-3 FA Detainee Holding facility. Questions and Answers regarding the locations of interrogations and interrogation practices.
Sworn statement of a guard at 2-3 FA Detainee Holding Facility. Questions and Answers regarding the locations of interrogations and interrogation practices. Respondent states, "I remember two women and the guy who died who they said was ...
Statement of Sergeant - Guard at the 2-3 FA Detainee Facility Dec. 2003 - Jan. 2004. Contains questions and answers regarding the locations of interrogations and interrogation practices. Respondent states that detainees were removed from the ...
Statement of Corporal - Guard at the 2-3 FA Detainee Facility Dec. 2003 - Jan. 2004. Questions and Answers regarding the locations of interrogations and interrogation practices. Same set of questions as in ACLU-RDI 2588. In response to a ...
Sworn Statement of Corporal - Guard at the 2-3 FA Detainee Facility Dec. 2003 - Jan. 2004. Questions and Answers regarding the locations of interrogations and interrogation practices.
Sworn statement by a HUMINT interrogator. First page entirely redacted. Talks about an individual male interrogator who is "not a good interrogator" because he is aggressive and asks questions with an answer already formulated. Also ...
Major requests follow-up information about interrogations, specifically solders' statements saying that [redacted] sometimes removed detainees from the holding facility for brief periods of time (5 minutes to an hour) for questioning. Major ...
Largely illegible. Sworn statement by an NCO regarding detention procedures. States that detainees were generally held for 1-2 days, and "5 days at the most." States, "I've never heard of any allegations of abuse."
Sworn statement in questionnaire form of a guard at the 2-3 FA Detainee Holding Facility. Refers to two individuals named Mohammad Saddam and Roy (Rafat) [redacted]; respondent states that they were not allowed access to the detainee holding ...
Sworn statement by a commander of 2-3 FA. Document is barely legible. Discusses detention procedures and the detention facility at "the palace." States that detainees were generally only held there for up to 2 days. Talks about the death of a ...
Sworn statement discussing detention procedures and interrogations. States, "The [redacted] was fairly aggressive in their interrogations, but I don't believe they did anything abusive." Mentions the presence of a dog at the facility.
Heavily redacted sworn statement by a Navy SEAL discussing detainee handling. States that 12 was the highest number of detainees ever held at the facility at one time. States that no detainee stayed longer than 14 days. Page 2 is entirely redacted.
Sworn statement by an assistant platoon commander in charge of maintaining a temporary holding facility and providing "over-watch for tactical interrogations." Discusses detainee holding and interrogation practices. States, "The most aggressive ...
Sworn statement discussing interrogation procedures and techniques. States, "We used 'Mutt and Jeff' with one of them being assertive, but probably not more than 20% of the time." Continues, "Ninety-nine percent of the time if there was an injury ...
Sworn statement by a LCDR, Commander unit, discussing detainee processing and interrogation procedures at tactical interrogation facility. States, "What we consider the rule for holding detainees at our facility is no more than 72 hours," but ...
Sworn statement by a Master of Arms, the equivalent of a military police officer in the army. Talks about law enforcement procedures and training for handling detainees. Claims never to have seen any abuse of detainees, and states, "Everything in ...
Sworn statement by an intelligence Sergeant who also interrogated and screened detainees, describing the 2-3 FA BN detention facility and states that the two (2) brothers and sister detainees were held at the facility for 24 hours before being ...
Sworn statement by a Colonel with authority over detainee operations. He addresses the situation concerning an Iraqi family (2 Brothers & 1 Sister) that was arrested, detained and interrogated at Abu Ghrtaib prison. The Colonel states, "I'm ...
Statement regarding a female detainee who was "detained for being the main financier of anti-Coalition activities in the Azimiyah area of Baghdad." States that detainee was "a known cell leader in the Azimiyah area" and gave money to her brothers ...
Dicusses events leading to the detention of a "financier of resistance in Azimiya," who was "detained for being one of the overall coordinators of anti-Coalition activities." The detainee and two of her brothers were all arrested.
Sworn statement by a medical sergeant. States, "I did not interrogate detainees. I was present for many interrogations.... I performed medical screenings on detainees all the time." Continues, "No detainee showed any sign of abuse and I never ...
Statement of a Specialist First Class (SPF) in December 2003 concerning describing information derived from the interrogation of suspected resistance members in the Azimiyah area that incriminates family members as being a member of the ...
Sworn statement by interrogator from 1st Airborne Division. Discusses interrogations at Adhamiya, and talks about the difficulty of getting reliable interpreters. States, "I've not heard any allegations of abuse at [redacted], except from the ...
Sworn statement by Chief Warrant Officer 2, an assistant detachment commander who participated in interrogations. This statement concerns a woman and her two (2) brothers who were captured in connection with anti-coalition attacks. One of the ...
Sworn Statement by an IP, who talks about investigations. States, "When I was a policeman, I did not arrest anyone.... I did not interrogate people and I did not interrogate people with the Americans."
Sworn Statement by an interpreter. States, "I'm a lawyer and I used to be an interrogator, so sometimes you can't force a person to give you information.... Even I know about Human Rights." States, "I've never seen anyone use sticks, wires, or dogs."
Sworn Statement by Commander of 1st Brigade, 1st Armored Division regarding interrogations. States that he was unaware of allegations that a detainee had been sodomized during an interrogation, but that he was surprised because the division had ...
Sworn statement by "one of the team members who conducts interrogations of the detainees" at the THF (Temporary Holding Facility) at the Adhamiya Palace Complex. Interrogator states that he has "never used stress positions," and states, "At no ...
Statement of Sergeant First Class who served as an interrogator. Describes interrogations, and states that only specific interrogators conduct interrogations. Continues, "Our command has authorization to detain people longer than 72 ...
Sworn statement by a commander, probably of a detention facility. Discusses detentions and interrogations, and states, "After medical screening the detainee would be ... secured to the floor by a 3ft chain linked to handcuffs.... Detainees were ...
Two sworn statements, one by Sergeant First Class NCO 2/5 Special Forces Group involved in detainee operations and one by a detainee. Both refer to the same interrogation, in which the detainee confessed involvement in 6 attacks on coalition ...
Sworn statement by a Iraqi national who became a detainee at Abu Ghraib along with his sister and brother. He claims that his brother was with the Saddam regime and when he went to visit his sister in Iraq he was taken in to custody as a detainee ...
Statement of officer who supervises detainee operations at Radwaniyah Palace Complex. "Bread and water is basically what we can support them with. They get as much bread as they can eat and one piece three times a day was more than they wanted." ...
Sworn statement by an Iraqi detainee, referring to abuse of the detainee and her brothers and sister at Adamiya. States, "I saw an Iraqi put a bottle in my brother's rectum. There were Iraqi people doing it and Americans watching. There were six ...
Sworn statement of female Iraqi detainee whose siblings were also held at Adhamiya. States, "I have two sisters and five brothers. One brother died at [redacted]." Detainee was interrogated at Adhamiya palace for four or five days ...
Handwritten transcript of questions and answers regarding allegations of abuse; the name of the individual answering questions has been redacted. Interviewee implicates Iraqi Police in abuse, and states that there are no "allegations of abuse by ...
Sworn statement of a translator regarding allegations of detainee abuse. The translator states that they have given statements in the past two (2) weeks and the current statement concerns a complaint by a detainee about being abused. The ...
Sworn statement by a screener at Abu Ghraib prison regarding two (2) Iraqi women and their two (2) brothers detained at Abu Ghraib prison in January 2004. States, "One [brother] said he was raped with a bottle, and they mentioned another brother ...
Sworn statement by an individual who was present at an interrogation. Refers to a detainee who alleged that he had been abused, "stripped, had a bag placed over his head, and was burned on the foot with a cigarette and hit on the side of his ...
Sworn statement by a detainee who claimed to have served in the Iraqi Army as a technician. Detainee states that he was handcuffed and had a bag put over his head. He was held "for 17 days" with a bag over his head, "handcuffed to the floor." ...
