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 (58)

This 2002 cable requests that IC Psychologist James Mitchell remain at the undisclosed location in order to provide continued assistance in the Abu Zubaydah interrogation. The cable states that Mitchell's role is "key" and they need him there to ...
Dec. 20, 2016
Cable
CTC/UBL
James Mitchell
Abu Zubaydah
SERE, Use of water, Waterboarding
This email chain includes two cables discussing the status of Abu Zubaydah's interrogation and describing his condition. The first cable is dated August 2, 2002 and describes Abu Zubaydah's condition on day 45 of the isolation phase. It also ...
This CIA cable to the ALEC Info Director is heavily redacted and states that the IC SERE Psychologists recommend using the waterboard technique for the "aggressive" phase of Abu Zubaydah's interrogation.
Dec. 20, 2016
Cable
Abu Zubaydah
EIT, Use of water, Waterboarding
This August 4, 2002 cable details the first and second sessions of the aggressive phase of interrogation of Abu Zubaydah. Throughout these sessions Abu Zubaydah continued to maintain his position that he had no additional information.
This August 3, 2002 cable provides authorization to implement more aggressive techniques in the interrogation of Abu Zubaydah, including the use of the water board and mock burial, as described in this cable. The cable also provides information ...
This CIA list includes Abu Zubaydah's reported terrorist activity, injuries at the time of capture, highlights from reporting, legal authority for interrogation techniques used, and interrogation techniques used on Abu Zubaydah.
This CIA cable describes the phase of Abu Zubaydah's interrogation and states that he underwent confinement, walling and the waterboard during his initial cycle of interrogations. The cable also describes his general behavior in his cell as well ...
Dec. 20, 2016
Cable
Abu Zubaydah
EIT, Use of water, Waterboarding, Physical assault, Walling, Cramped confinement
This cable details the interrogation of Abu Zubaydah that took place on August 5, 2002 at the which the IC SERE psychologists were present. This interrogation included the use of walling, the water board, attention grab, confinement box, hooding, ...
This cable details the interrogation of Abu Zubaydah that took place on August 6, 2002. This interrogation included the use of walling, waterboarding "numerous times", attention grab, insult slap, confinement box, and hooding. The cable states ...
This CIA cable requests SERE psychologists' comments on the proposed enhanced interrogation techniques waterboarding and mock burial for the next interrogation of Abu Zubaydah. The cable specifically asks for the psychologists' comments on the ...
Dec. 20, 2016
Cable
John Yoo
Abu Zubaydah
SERE, Use of water, Waterboarding, Mock Burial, Threat