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 (44)

RelevanceDateRelease Date
Aug. 08, 2002 | CIA | ACLU-RDI 6657
This cable provides a report of day 5 of the cycle of interrogation carried out on detainee Abu Zubaydah on August 8, 2002. It includes details of interrogators using a combination of waterboarding, walling, cramped confinement, and hooding in ...
Dec. 20, 2016
Cable
Abu Zubaydah
EIT, Use of water, Waterboarding, Physical assault, Walling, Stress positions, Cramped confinement, Sleep deprivation, Environmental manipulation, Hooding/Goggling
Aug. 06, 2002 | ACLU-RDI 6752
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 ...
Dec. 20, 2016
Cable
Abu Zubaydah
EIT, Use of water, Waterboarding, Physical assault, Face slap or insult slap, Attention grasp, Walling, Cramped confinement, Sleep deprivation, Environmental manipulation, Hooding/Goggling
Aug. 04, 2002 | ACLU-RDI 6739
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
July 19, 2002 | ACLU-RDI 6777
This CIA cable describes Abu Zubaydah's condition in detention as of July 19, 2002. The cable states that the next stage of Zubaydah's detention will include confinement, dressing changes, walling and a head immobilizer, as requested by IC SERE ...
Dec. 20, 2016
Cable
Abu Zubaydah
EIT, Walling, Cramped confinement, Isolation, Other, Physical assault
July 01, 2002 | ACLU-RDI 6743
This July 2002 cable is a request for guidance from headquarters on the use of enhanced interrogation techniques. The cable expresses hesitation about using these techniques on subjects being held in solitary confinement without legal ...
Dec. 20, 2016
Cable
EIT, SERE, Use of water, Waterboarding, Physical assault, Face slap or insult slap, Stomach/abdominal slap, Walling, Threat, Mock Burial, Stress positions, Cramped confinement, Sleep deprivation, Environmental manipulation, Light or sound, Hooding/Goggling
June 22, 2002 | ACLU-RDI 6683
This cable describes a redacted detainee's behavior in the fourth day of a three week isolation phase.
Dec. 20, 2016
Cable
EIT, Isolation, Environmental manipulation, Hooding/Goggling
June 01, 2002 | ACLU-RDI 6730
This CIA cable states that a scenario occurred when IC SERE Psychologists entered Abu Zubaydah's cell to begin an isolation phase. The cable is heavily redacted.
Dec. 20, 2016
Cable
Abu Zubaydah
EIT
May 01, 2002 | CIA | ACLU-RDI 6724
This redacted memo, sent from HQS/ALEC to the CIA, explains that the interrogation process with Abu Zubaydah is "at somewhat of a standstill" and presents options for proceeding in such a way that increases pressure on Zubaydah to provide ...
Dec. 20, 2016
Cable
Abu Zubaydah
EIT, Threat, Family/others, Cramped confinement
Apr. 30, 2002 | CIA | ACLU-RDI 6726
This heavily redacted cable seems to describe a proposal for "turning up the heat" in the interrogation of detainee Abu Zubaydah. One unredacted sentence references moving onto "Option B" in the interrogation; another reveals the psychologists' ...
Dec. 20, 2016
Non-legal Memo, Cable
Abu Zubaydah
EIT
Apr. 01, 2002 | CIA | ACLU-RDI 6678
This is a memo from the CIA which describes the month-long custody and interrogation of detainee Abu Zubaydah and requests comments from Alec/HQs "on establishing the priority focus of the ongoing interrogations of Abu Zubaydah".
Dec. 20, 2016
Cable
Abu Zubaydah, Abd Al-Rahman M. Al-Umari
EIT, Sleep deprivation, Isolation, Environmental manipulation, Light or sound