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
DOD | ACLU-RDI 6473
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 ...
Feb. 05, 2016
Photograph
Manadel Al-Jamadi
Physical assault
DOD | ACLU-RDI 6472
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 ...
Photograph
Abed Hamed Mowhoush
Physical assault
DOD | ACLU-RDI 6471
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 ...
Photograph
Physical assault
Oct. 15, 2004 | FBI | ACLU-RDI 6470
This document is an email to redacted FBI officials seeking guidance regarding military request to interview Special Agents in the field in Afghanistan on detainee abuse and deaths. Patrick Kelley responds that National Security Law Branch is ...
Oct. 30, 2009
Email
Patrick Kelly
[Redacted] (OGC) (FBI)
Patrick Kelly, Frankie Battle, Thomas J. Harrington
Sept. 02, 2004 | FBI | ACLU-RDI 6469
This document is a memo in reference to a NCIS request for the FBI to release information on all people who have had interaction with two detainees who have alleged abuse at the hands of military personnel and their interpreters. The detainees' ...
Oct. 30, 2009
Non-legal Memo
FBI Office of General Counsel
Counter Terrorism Unit
Dec. 01, 2004 | FBI | ACLU-RDI 6468
This document is an email describing the allegations of a detainee (whose name is redacted). The detainee claims to have been abused by two FBI agents in Afghanistan who later came back to interrogate him in GTMO. Detainee claimed that the FBI ...
Oct. 30, 2009
Email
Valarie E. Caproni
Redacted; Charlene Thornton
Valerie E. Caproni, Charlene B. Thornton, Julie F. Thomas, Frankie Battle, Thomas J. Harrington
Threat
Dec. 01, 2004 | FBI | ACLU-RDI 6467
This document is an email describing the allegations of a detainee (whose name is redacted). The detainee claims to have been abused by two FBI agents in Afghanistan who later came back to interrogate him in GTMO. Detainee claimed that the FBI ...
Oct. 30, 2009
Email
Valerie E. Caproni
[Redacted] (OGC) (FBI); Charlene B. Thorton (INSD) (FBI); Frankie Battle (CTD) (FBI); Julie F. Thomas (OGC) (FBI); [Redacted] (CTD) (FBI); T.J. Harrington (CTD) (FBI); [Redacted] (CTD) (FBI); M. [Redacted] (CTD) (FBI); [Redacted] (CTD) (FBI)
Valerie E. Caproni, Charlene B. Thornton
Threat
June 18, 2002 | ACLU-RDI 6466
This document is a cover page of an FBI report regarding recommendations of the Behavioral Analysis Unit (BAU) during the on-site review process at GTMO. The recommendations are based on the prediction that the operations at GTMO regarding the ...
Oct. 30, 2009
Non-legal Memo
Behavioral Analysis Unit | Critical Incident Response Group
Jan. 15, 2004 | ACLU-RDI 6465
This document is a "Welcome aboard packet" for Rotation 6 of FBI agents in Iraq. Contains a mission statement, general instructions and recommendations for life at the Baghdad Operations Center (BOC). The document names On Scene Commander, E. ...
Non-legal Memo
Edward H. Lueckenhoff, M. Chris Briese
| ACLU-RDI 6464
This document contains several pages re. taking a "lessons learned" approach to agency work. Suggests that, prior to deployment overseas, the FBI should brief agents "regarding the Bureau's policy on presence during/assistance to (etc.) coercive ...