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 (167)

RelevanceDateRelease Date
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
Aug. 17, 2004 | CID | ACLU-RDI 19

Iraqi civilian reported that an NCO from the 1/325th Infantry Battalion stole $2,650 from the trunk of his car after stopping him at a checkpoint on June 4, 2003. The soldier denied the allegation. The investigation did not develop any ...

Dec. 30, 2004
Investigative File (CID)
Jacqueline J. Scott, Thom Jones
Other
Dec. 19, 2003 | CID | ACLU-RDI 20

On November 14, 2003, a soldier provided a sworn statement saying that while he was deployed to Iraq, he "saw what I think were war crimes.... In my mind, my chain of command did nothing to stop these war crimes, and allowed them to ...

Dec. 30, 2004
Investigative File (CID), Photograph
Physical assault, General, Stress positions, Dietary manipulation, Environmental manipulation, Hooding/Goggling, Other
July 28, 2004 | CID | ACLU-RDI 28

An investigation into a detainee's allegation that he was "tortured" at a U.S. facility in Mosul in March 2004. Detainee indicated that after being arrested but before arriving at the facility, his captors -- American men in civilian ...

Dec. 30, 2004
Investigative File (CID)
Jacqueline J. Scott, John Peterson
Use of water, Other, Physical assault, General, Threat, Family/others, Environmental manipulation, Temperature, Hooding/Goggling, Nudity, Other
Aug. 03, 2004 | CID | ACLU-RDI 30
Detainee alleged that he was arrested by U.S. forces and placed in a hole in the ground with other detainees at an unknown location in Samara, Iraq for about three days, then threatened with death and taken to a room where he was placed on a box ...
Dec. 30, 2004
Investigative File (CID)
John Peterson, Jacqueline J. Scott
Use of water, Other, Physical assault, General, Threat, Assault/death, Use of phobias, Nudity, Other Humiliation, Forced grooming, Other
Dec. 05, 2004 | CID | ACLU-RDI 113

An investigation finding probable cause to believe that two U.S. soldiers committed the offense of assault when they punched and kicked a local detainee whom they picked up at a roadblock and transported to an Iraqi prison. A sergeant took ...

Jan. 31, 2005
Investigative File (CID)
Jacqueline J. Scott, Thom Jones
Physical assault, General, Other
DOA | ACLU-RDI 434
Letter to mother of claimant conceding that "US forces were negligent in shooting your son" and improperly detaining him. Offers settlement of $1,000.00 for all claims against the US for the incident. The admission of a wrongful shooting and ...
Feb. 28, 2005
Letter
Physical assault, General, Other
Aug. 16, 2003 | DOA | ACLU-RDI 437
Army request for release of prisoner arrested and shot by mistake. States individual was transferred from military hospital as a detainee instead of being released. This is related to ACLU RDI 434; 435; 436; 437; & 4865.
Feb. 28, 2005
Non-legal Memo
Physical assault, General, Other
Aug. 04, 2004 | CID | ACLU-RDI 153
This CID investigation was initiated upon receiving a complaint by a civilian interrogator that he “heard a rumor” that a guard at the Baghdad International Airport (BIAP) holding facility urinated in a water bottle and gave it to a detainee to ...
Mar. 02, 2005
Investigative File (CID)
Other
Nov. 11, 2004 | CID | ACLU-RDI 154
Detainees brought Fawaz Badaa Najem's body to gate at Abu Ghraib during the night after hearing him gasping. He had been otherwise well and had no medical history. The investigation established probable cause to believe that detainee Najem died ...
Mar. 02, 2005
Investigative File (CID)
Fawaz Badaa Najem
Other