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 (146)

RelevanceDateRelease Date
Apr. 23, 2005 | CID | ACLU-RDI 1557
A CID Report with several Commander's reports relating to the investigation and punishment of soldiers involved in the drowning death of an Iraqi civilian, Zaydun Ma'mun Fadhil, in Samarra, Iraq on January 3, 2004. Mr. Fadhil drowned after being ...
Sept. 20, 2005
Investigative File (CID, AR 15-6), Interview (Statement, Summaries/Notes), UCMJ (Article 15)
Zaydun Ma'mun Fadhil
Physical assault, General, Threat, Assault/death, Family/others, Other
Nov. 29, 2004 | Non-US | ACLU-RDI 6328
The document is an untitled letter from a detainee alleging abuse by the American military. The detainee states that he was questioned about the role of Iraqi intelligence in furthering international terrorism and about where Iraq had hidden its ...
June 15, 2011
Letter
Physical assault, General, Walling, Assault/death, Stress positions, Sleep deprivation, Isolation, Light or sound, Temperature, Hooding/Goggling, Threat, Environmental manipulation
Nov. 09, 2004 | DOA | ACLU-RDI 618
Report of incident in which a detainee claimed that other detainees are beating and threatening to kill him for being a spy.
Nov. 30, 2005
Non-legal Memo
Threat, Assault/death
Nov. 08, 2004 | DOA | ACLU-RDI 2315
Report on an informal investigation conducted by Brigadier General Richard P. Formica into specific allegations of detainee abuse within CJSOTF-AP [Combined Joint Special Operating Task Force – Arabian Peninsula] and 5th SF [Special Forces] Group ...
June 15, 2006
Oversight Report, Investigative File
Richard P. Formica
Ricardo Sanchez, George R. Fay, Richard P. Formica
Use of water, Water dousing, Physical assault, Face slap or insult slap, Sexual, General, Threat, Assault/death, Family/others, Use of electricity, Stress positions, Cramped confinement, Use of phobias, Sleep deprivation, Dietary manipulation, Environmental manipulation, Light or sound, Hooding/Goggling, Nudity, Other Humiliation, Sexual
Nov. 04, 2004 | CID | ACLU-RDI 1762
Investigation based on civilian contractor's allegation that he witnessed U.S. Marines abusing Iraqi detainees. In a sworn statement the contractor says he saw Marines place bags over an Iraqi prisoners' heads and strike him in the head with a ...
Nov. 30, 2005
Investigative File (CID)
Physical assault, Attention grasp, General, Threat, Assault/death, Environmental manipulation, Hooding/Goggling
Oct. 27, 2004 | CID | ACLU-RDI 4531
This CID investigation concerns an allegation of an assault upon a detainee while at FOB Headhunter. The detainee alleges that after he was captured he was hooded, was struck about the head and body by fists and kicked. He also stated he was hit ...
Oct. 01, 2008
Investigative File (CID), Photograph
Physical assault, Face slap or insult slap, General, Threat, Assault/death
Oct. 25, 2004 | CID | ACLU-RDI 112

Investigation into allegations by senior Psyops officers in Afghanistan who witnessed indiscriminate assaults in May 2004 by Special Forces on villagers during raids in Gurjay and Surkhagen. Abuses included hitting and kicking villagers in ...

Jan. 31, 2005
Investigative File (CID)
Jacqueline J. Scott
Physical assault, General, Threat, Assault/death
Oct. 15, 2004 | CID | ACLU-RDI 114

Iraqi detainee alleged that he was taken from his cell to another location by plain-clothed Americans who beat him in the head and stomach, dislocated his arms, "stepped on the [his] nose" and broke it, and stuck a pistol in his ...

Jan. 31, 2005
Investigative File (CID)
Jacqueline J. Scott, Thom Jones
Physical assault, General, Threat, Assault/death
Oct. 13, 2004 | CID | ACLU-RDI 149

A CID Investigation was initiated based on the claims by a Sergeant that he witnessed several counter-intelligence (CI) agents abuse Iraqi detainees during interrogations while he was stationed in Samarra, Iraq. The Sergeant stated he saw CI ...

Mar. 02, 2005
Investigative File (CID)
Physical assault, Threat, Assault/death
Sept. 30, 2004 | DOA | ACLU-RDI 1305
This document is the Charge Sheet against Sergeant Scott A. McKenzie for his Court Martial on abusing Iraqi detainees. It includes the charges; Articles of the UCMJ he is accused of violating; details of the charges; Sgt. McKenzie's plea to each ...
July 01, 2005
Legal Memo, UCMJ (Court-Martial)
David D. McKiernan
Scott A. McKenzie
Face slap or insult slap, Walling, General, Assault/death, Stress positions, Use of phobias, Other Humiliation, Physical assault, Threat