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
June 03, 2004 | CID | ACLU-RDI 9

Detainee alleged that U.S. forces captured him and took him to Dhyla Al Mokhadia Base, an Iraqi Civil Defense Corps location, where he was deprived of food and water for three days with his hands tied and eyes blindfolded.  He alleged ...

Dec. 30, 2004
Investigative File (CID)
John Peterson, Jacqueline J. Scott
Physical assault, General, Dietary manipulation, Environmental manipulation, Hooding/Goggling
Feb. 06, 2004 | CID | ACLU-RDI 10
A Lieutenant Colonel admitted to issuing a death threat and firing his pistol next to the head of a detainee suspected of being part of a plot to assassinate U.S. troops, including the Lt. Col. This was supposedly done during an interrogation. ...
Dec. 30, 2004
Investigative File (CID), Photograph
Physical assault, General, Threat, Assault/death
June 09, 2003 | CID | ACLU-RDI 11

Two (2) soldiers from 1/9 Field Artillery entered two Iraqi civilian homes by force, stole two brief cases containing valuables and cash from one home, stole jewlery from the other home, pointed weapons at the families while searching the ...

Dec. 30, 2004
Investigative File (CID)
Assault/death, Other, Threat
Sept. 19, 2003 | CID | ACLU-RDI 12
CID Investigation in to allegations that a Non-Commissioned Officer and soldier from 19th Quartermaster( QM) Company, 240th QM Battalion, pushed an Iraqi civilian into the back of their truck, to an isolated area, robbed him of his watch and ...
Dec. 30, 2004
Investigative File (CID), Photograph
Jacqueline J. Scott, Thom Jones, Nelson van Eck
Physical assault, General
July 01, 2004 | CID | ACLU-RDI 13

On 1/18/04, a detainee gave a statement about abuse he had suffered at Abu Ghraib and also stated that he had witnessed a translator forcibly sodomizing a male juvenile detainee while a female U.S. soldier observed and took pictures. (This ...

Dec. 30, 2004
Investigative File (CID), Photograph
Charles A. Graner, Jr., Ivan L. Frederick, II, Megan M. Ambuhl, Javal Sean Davis, Sabrina D. Harman
Physical assault, Sexual, General, Stress positions, Dietary manipulation, Environmental manipulation, Hooding/Goggling, Nudity, Other Humiliation, Sexual
June 10, 2004 | CID | ACLU-RDI 14

Approximately 73-year-old Iraqi woman reported that she had been subjected to assault and sexual abuse, including being sodomized with a stick and touched in private areas; that she was forced to "swim" in water thrown on ...

Dec. 30, 2004
Investigative File (CID), Photograph
Jacqueline J. Scott, Nelson van Eck, Thom Jones
Use of water, Other, Physical assault, Sexual, General, Cramped confinement, Use of phobias, Isolation, Dietary manipulation, Environmental manipulation, Light or sound, Hooding/Goggling, Other Humiliation, Sexual
Oct. 02, 2003 | CID | ACLU-RDI 15
Two NCOs and two enlisted men from B Company, 1/36th Infantry Regiment, 1st Armored Division severely assaulted several detained youths while the detainees' heads were covered with sandbags and their hands restrained with flexi-cuffs. The ...
Dec. 30, 2004
Investigative File (CID)
Physical assault, Face slap or insult slap, General, Cramped confinement, Environmental manipulation, Hooding/Goggling, Other Humiliation, Forced grooming, Other
May 31, 2004 | CID | ACLU-RDI 16

Investigation into the death of Hamza Hassad Tawfeek Najm Byaty. Mr. Byaty had been detained at Baghdad International Airport and was being transported in a bus when he became short of breath, hypotensive, and tachycardic. An IV briefly ...

Dec. 30, 2004
Investigative File (CID)
John Peterson
Hamza Hassad Tawfeek Najm Byaty, Zaid Muhammed Tariq, Taleb Ehad Kazen, Abed Mohammed Najem, Dahm Spah
July 20, 2004 | CID | ACLU-RDI 17

A CID report concerning a detainee's allegation that a U.S. soldier repeatedly punched him in the stomach and that Kurds kicked him in the legs during interrogation in custody at the Baghdad International Airport. The detainee also stated that ...

Dec. 30, 2004
Investigative File (CID)
John Peterson, Jacqueline J. Scott
Physical assault, General, Environmental manipulation, Hooding/Goggling
July 23, 2004 | CID | ACLU-RDI 18

Investigation into abuse allegations by two detainees. One detainee stated that he was arrested by U.S. forces on 4/23/04, and then taken to a house near Adhamiya Palace where he was held for 15-16 days, punched in the face and ribs until he ...

Dec. 30, 2004
Investigative File (CID)
Jacqueline J. Scott, John Peterson
Physical assault, Sexual, General, Use of electricity, Dietary manipulation, Other Humiliation, Sexual