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 (67)

Sworn statement by a Colonel with authority over detainee operations. He addresses the situation concerning an Iraqi family (2 Brothers & 1 Sister) that was arrested, detained and interrogated at Abu Ghrtaib prison. The Colonel states, "I'm ...
June 30, 2006
Interview (Statement)
Stress positions
Statement of a US Army major. Contains summaries of interviews with two detainees. First detainee, who was arrested on December 24, 2003, reported that he was "beaten ... and punched, ... hung by a nail from the wall with his hands bound behind ...
June 30, 2006
Interview (Statement)
Physical assault, Stomach/abdominal slap, Sexual, General, Stress positions
Sworn statement of a detainee. States that, following his capture on April 27, 2004, he was put in a compartment so small that he could only sit in it. States he was severely beaten in an attempt to force a confession, threatened with rape, ...
In a summarized witness statement, the Joint Interrogation Group (JIG) Chief at Guantanamo Bay discusses a variety of incidents of abuse alleged to have taken place under his command. With respect to interrogators' impersonation of FBI agents, he ...
Summarized witness statement of a Major stationed at Guantanamo from February 2003 to January 2004 who supervised interrogations. The Major admits being aware of a number of incidents of detainee abuse, including a SFC's impersonation of a State ...
This is a statement by a Sergeant interrogator/translator who reported four incidents of potential detainee abuse that he witnessed or were related to him by detainees. The first incident of possible detainee abuse was the rough handling of a ...
Dec. 21, 2005
Investigative File, Interview (Statement)
Physical assault, General, Stress positions, Forced physical training
The Criminal Investigation Task Force (CITF) interviewed two detainees at Camp Delta, Guantanamo Bay, Cuba to learn of camp conditions. The interview was conducted by the FBI and other agencies. One detainee explained that since being detained at ...
Dec. 21, 2005
Interview (Summaries/Notes)
Physical assault, General, Stress positions, Other Humiliation, Other

NCIS interview of a detainee at Guantanamo regarding his activities in Afghanistan. The detainee stated that he traveled throughout Afghanistan doing charity work and teaching the Koran. The detainee stated that he never took up arms while in ...

Dec. 21, 2005
Investigative File (NCIS), Interview (Summaries/Notes)
Physical assault, General, Stress positions, Other
This document is a translated statement made by a detainee taken in to custody. Detainee describes abuse he received when taken in to custody at the Iraq/Saudi Arabia boarder. He said he was forced to exercise. He also stated to have been put in ...
Sept. 20, 2005
Investigative File (CID), Interview (Statement)
General, Stress positions, Forced physical training, Physical assault
The detainee was interviewed at Camp Delta, and stated that three to four weeks ago, at Camp X-ray, an unknown number of guards "entered his cell, unprovoked, and started spitting and cursing at him. The guards called him a 'son of a bitch' and ...
May 18, 2005
Interview (Summaries/Notes)
Physical assault, General, Stress positions, Other