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 (87)

RelevanceDateRelease Date
Jan. 15, 2002 | Non-US | ACLU-RDI 3768
Cover letter from Francois Bujon de l'Esiang to Sec. of State forwarding communique from French Minister of Foreign Affairs Hubert Vedrine.
Dec. 30, 2004
Letter
Francois Bujon de l'Esiang
Colin L. Powell
Colin L. Powell
Jan. 16, 2002 | DOS | ACLU-RDI 3775
State Department cable regarding prosecution of non-Afghanis fighting with Al-Qaeda or the Taliban. The cable states that an investigation of such persons will be carried out and, in the event that it is established that criminal acts were ...
Dec. 30, 2004
Cable
Colin L. Powell
Colin L. Powell
May 01, 2003 | DOS | ACLU-RDI 3782
State Department memo on a meeting Amb. Prosper had with International Committee for the Red Cross (ICRC) President Kellenberger concerning a certain detainee and the need for "public knowledge" of discussions on his status to address concerns ...
Dec. 30, 2004
Non-legal Memo
Ed Cummings
Colin L. Powell
Colin L. Powell, Pierre-Richard Prosper, Edward R. Cummings, William Howard Taft, IV, Beth Jones
Mar. 20, 2003 | ACLU-RDI 3801
Fax Cover Sheet from Amnesty International to Secretary of State Powell re: Human Rights and the War in Iraq. No attachments included.
Dec. 30, 2004
Letter
Colin L. Powell
Colin L. Powell
May 17, 2004 | DOS | ACLU-RDI 3824
DOS Cable discussing allegations that the U.S. Army abused prisoners at Guantanamo. An English newspaper, 'Bahrain Tribune,' reported that U.S. prison guards beat an ailing Bahraini detainee, Juma Al-Dossari.
Dec. 30, 2004
Cable
Ronald E. Neumann
Colin L. Powell
George W. Bush, Colin L. Powell, Ronald E. Neumann, Charles L. Daris, Valerie C. Fowler, William P. Marriott, C. David Welch, Stephen Bondy, Karl W. Hofmann, Harry R. Melone
Juma Mohammed Abdul Latif al Dosari
Physical assault, General
Oct. 31, 2002 | DOS | ACLU-RDI 3874
State Department cable from the Paris Embassy re: French judge dismisses Guantanamo detainees’ case. On October 31, a French judge dismissed the case brought by the families of two French nationals being held at Guantanamo base. The families were ...
Dec. 30, 2004
Cable
Colin L. Powell
Colin L. Powell, Bruce Swartz
Sept. 11, 2003 | DOS | ACLU-RDI 3886
State Department cable from Kuwaiti Embassy to State Department re: Ambassador Pierre-Richard Prosper Discusses Iraqi War Crimes and Guantanamo. The cable states that Amb. Pierre-Richard Prosper met with Committee for Missing and POW Affairs ...
Dec. 30, 2004
Cable
Colin L. Powell
Pierre-Richard Prosper, Colin L. Powell
Mar. 04, 2004 | DOS | ACLU-RDI 3889
DOS Cable re: Families of Guantanamo Detainees Increase Pressure on Government of France. This cable expresses the French government's preference to have French citizens returned to France to face the French judicial system and to pursue that ...
Dec. 30, 2004
Cable
Sharon A. Wiener
Colin L. Powell
Colin L. Powell, Sharon A. Wiener
June 25, 2004 | DOS | ACLU-RDI 3891
State Department Cable re: Repatriated Russian Guantanamo Detainees Released by Russian Procuracy. The seven Russian detainees from the Guantanamo military base that were previously handed over by the United States to the Russian Government have ...
Dec. 30, 2004
Cable
Colin L. Powell
Colin L. Powell, Bruce Swartz
Dec. 26, 2002 | Non-US | ACLU-RDI 3929
This letter from Kenneth Roth the Executive Director of Human Rights Watch, to President Bush concerns a Washington Post article dated December 26, 2002 alleging of torture of suspected Al-Qaeda detainees held in U.S. custody. Mr. Roth states "if ...
Dec. 30, 2004
Letter
Kenneth Roth
George W. Bush | Colin L. Powell | Donald H. Rumsfeld | Condoleeza Rice
George W. Bush, Colin L. Powell, Donald H. Rumsfeld, Condoleeza Rice