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.
This memorandum from the Office of the Assistant Attorney General to Alberto Gonzales examines the legal standards of conduct for interrogations under the Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment or Punishment.
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 ...
This document is a CIA Memo drafted for the Deputy Director for Operations via the Associate Deputy Director for Operations/Counterintelligence. The previous release of this document (on June 13, 2016) included more redactions such as Bruce ...
This July 9, 2002 email from [redacted] to [redacted] re: Description of Physical Pressures, includes the contents of a memo from Jim Mitchell describing "potential physical and psychological pressures" to be used on a particular detainee. The ...
This report details the investigation into the death of Gul Rahman. This re-released report includes a description of psychologist Bruce Jessen and his role in the interrogation of Gul Rahman.
Report from the Office of Inspector General on Counterterrorism Detention and Interrogation Activities from September 2001-October 2003, specifically focusing on the use of Enhanced Interrogation Techniques (EITs). In a previously released ...
This July 20, 2007 OLC memo from Steven Bradbury to John Rizzo discusses whether the CIA may lawfully employ six enhanced interrogation techniques in the interrogation of "high value detainees who are members of al Qaeda and associated groups. ...
This May 10, 2005 OLC memo discusses whether certain interrogation techniques designed to be used on a high value al Qaeda detainee comply with the federal prohibition on torture.
Email from Daniel Levin to John Rizzo discussing whether the use of twelve interrogation techniques in the interrogation of Sharif al-Masri would violate any U.S. statute, the U.S. Constitution, or any treaty obligation of the U.S.
Email from Daniel Levin to John Rizzo discussing whether the use of twelve interrogation techniques in the interrogation of Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani would violate any U.S. statute, the U.S. Constitution, or any treaty obligation of the U.S.
This report, issued by John Helgerson, examines whether CIA interrogators used unauthorized interrogation techniques on high value detainees, including Abd al-Rahman Al-Nashiri.
This July 9, 2002 email from [redacted] to [redacted] re: Description of Physical Pressures, includes the contents of a memo from an operational psychologist describing "potential physical and psychological pressures" to be used on a particular ...
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 ...
This document is a CIA Report of Investigation regarding the rendition and detention of German citizen Khalid Al-Masri. The report concludes that there was an "insufficient basis to render and detain" Al-Masri, his prolonged detention was ...
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 document is a fax from [redacted], [redacted] Legal Group, DCI Counterterrorist Center, CIA to Steve Bradbury, Office of Legal Counsel, Department of Justice, containing answers composed by the CIA' s Office of Medical Services to the ...
Report from the Office of Inspector General on Counterterrorism Detention and Interrogation Activities from September 2001-October 2003, specifically focusing on the use of Enhanced Interrogation Techniques (EITs).
This document is a CIA Memo drafted for the Deputy Director for Operations via the Associate Deputy Director for Operations/Counterintelligence. The memo contains background information related to the treatment and condition of detainees as it ...
CID Report of investigation regarding alleged assault on two detainees (an uncle, aged 50-52, and his nephew, aged 19) during their transport from Camp War Eagle to Camp Cuervo, Baghdad, Iraq, on May 7, 2004. The detainees were put in the back of ...
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 ...
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 ...
These photos most likely depict the abuse of Iraqi Major General Abed Hamed Mowhoush, who was detained, tortured, and killed by U.S. forces near Al Qaim, Iraq, in November 2003. According to an U.S. Army investigation, U.S. officials wrapped ...
This photo of what appears to be the top of a man’s head relates to the case of an Iraqi detainee who alleged he was tortured while detained by U.S. forces at an unknown facility in Tikrit, Iraq, in April and May of 2004. According to the ...
Audio of an interview of Moazzem Begg, a former detainee at Guantanamo Bay, conducted by the DOJ's Office of the Inspector General, as part of its report on the FBI's involvement in the mistreatment of detainees. You can listen to the audio below ...
This document is a list featuring descriptions of various abuses that occurred throughout Afghanistan. Most of the abuses involved slapping and punching.
This document is an Initial Army CID report concerning allegations by a detainee that he was tortured for approximately 24 hours by agents of the FBI while held at the Baghdad International Airport detention facility. Records revealed that the ...
The document is an untitled letter from a detainee alleging abuse by the American military. The detainee states that he was questioned about the role of Iraqi intelligence in furthering international terrorism and about where Iraq had hidden its ...
The document is an internal FBI email, regarding an attached urgent report that provides details from a military service member deployed in Iraq who observed serious physical abuses of civilian detainees in Samara, Iraq in the fall of 2003.
A transcript of an interview with an FBI Special Agent who was part of an interviewing team at Guantanamo Bay. The transcript first notes that interviews in the evening were conducted by those who were gathering intelligence; the purpose of the ...
An email by FBI Agent containing a positive response to observing aggressive treatment of detainees at Guantanamo Bay. The email notes that the agent saw, "at least two individuals dressed in BDU's standing and an inmate kneeling on the floor ...
An email regarding a forwarded letter. The letter states that the U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Command is conducting an investigation into allegations that two FBI agents were involved in the assault of a civilian detained at the Baghdad ...
This email includes a chain of forwarded emails expressing an Army CID's desire to interview FBI special agents who are witnesses in an investigation surrounding allegations of prisoner abuse. The prisoner alleges to have been tortured in "an act ...
This summary of an interview completed by the U.S. Naval Criminal investigative Service with Guantanamo Bay detainee, Moazaam Begg, was released by the Department of Defense Office of the General Counsel; the DOD's release letter to the ACLU is ...
A DOJ-OIG questionnaire for FBI personnel who were involved in detainee interview or interrogations at assigned locations in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba; Iraq; Afghanistan; or in other areas controlled by the U.S. Military. Questionnaire primarily ...
A DOJ-OIG questionnaire for FBI personnel who were involved in detainee interview or interrogations at assigned locations in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba; Iraq; Afghanistan; or in other areas controlled by the U.S. Military. Questionnaire primarily ...
A DOJ-OIG questionnaire for FBI personnel who were involved in detainee interview or interrogations at assigned locations in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba; Iraq; Afghanistan; or in other areas controlled by the U.S. Military. Questionnaire primarily ...
A DOJ-OIG questionnaire for FBI personnel who were involved in detainee interview or interrogations at assigned locations in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba; Iraq; Afghanistan; or in other areas controlled by the U.S. Military. Questionnaire primarily ...
A DOJ-OIG questionnaire for FBI personnel who were involved in detainee interview or interrogations at assigned locations in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba; Iraq; Afghanistan; or in other areas controlled by the U.S. Military. Questionnaire primarily ...
A DOJ-OIG questionnaire for FBI personnel who were involved in detainee interview or interrogations at assigned locations in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba; Iraq; Afghanistan; or in other areas controlled by the U.S. Military. Questionnaire primarily ...
A DOJ-OIG questionnaire for FBI personnel who were involved in detainee interview or interrogations at assigned locations in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba; Iraq; Afghanistan; or in other areas controlled by the U.S. Military. Questionnaire primarily ...
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 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 ...
In March 2009, the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence decided to initiate a review of the CIA’s detention and interrogation program. On December 13, 2012 the Committee voted to approve its Study of the Central Intelligence Agency’s Detention ...
This is an NCIS investigation into the death of Abu Bachir, a Syrian National. Marines and Iraqi National Guard Forces (ING) stopped and searched a vehicle coming from the direction of Syria. A Red Opal a taxi with three (3) passengers. As the ...
This is an NCIS investigation into the death of Abu Bachir, a Syrian National. Marines and Iraqi National Guard Forces (ING) stopped and searched a vehicle coming from the direction of Syria. A Red Opal a taxi with three (3) passengers. As the ...
This is an NCIS investigation of the death of an Thair Hamid Khalaf Hassan Alwani, Iraqi detainee who died in the custody of the Military Transition Team (MiTT) on December 22, 2007 while being transported from Combat Outpost (COP) Manion to the ...
This is an NCIS investigation into the death of Hasan Salih Mohammed, an Iraqi civilian who died following a Task Force 88 raid in Tawara Iraq on February 5, 2007. Mr. Mohammed died of unknown causes while being taken in to custody. His body was ...
Jan. 21, 2011
Investigative File (NCIS), Photograph, Medical (Autopsy, Death Certificate), Interview (Statement, Summaries/Notes) Hasan Salih Mohammed Physical assault, General
This is the Autopsy Report & Death Certificate of Abdulla Fawzzi, a 54-year-old Iraqi detainee. It is reported that Mr. Fawzzi who was admitted to the 86th Combat Support Hospital (CSH) for treatment of gunshot wounds to the lower extremities. ...
Mar. 18, 2011
Notes, Photograph, Medical (Autopsy, Death Certificate, Physical (non-death)) Abdulla Fawzzi Physical assault