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 (157)

Memo states that during a recent "welfare visit" a British citizen at Guantanamo informed UK officials that he was "hooded and physically abused" prior to transfer to Guantanamo. In response, the memo states that Paul Butler, the Deputy ...
June 30, 2006
Non-legal Memo
Timothy J. Keating
Timothy J. Keating
Physical assault, Environmental manipulation, Hooding/Goggling
This is the verbatim record of the trial of USMC Lance Corporal Walter H. Laak who was tried for abusing detainees. He pleaded to all charges. His punishment was confinement for 120 days; Reduction to pay grade E-1; and discharge from the Marine ...
June 15, 2006
UCMJ (Court-Martial), Judicial (Transcript)
Walter H. Laak
Physical assault
This is a U.S. Army Foreign Claims form for monetary compensation. The claimant is an Iraqi citizen whose son was shot and killed by U.S. forces. Claimant states his son was a night patrol guard in Annana Village, and on July 16, 2003, U.S. ...
Feb. 15, 2006
Legal Memo, Letter, Other
General, Physical assault
This is a U.S. Army Foreign Claims form for monetary compensation. The claimant is an Iraqi citizen whose father was arrested in Iraq by U.S. forces, taken to Abu Ghraib prison and died while in custody. He claims that the body of his father was ...
Feb. 15, 2006
Legal Memo, Letter
Physical assault, Other
This is a Court-Martial of Staff Sergeant Peasgood who was accused of and pleaded guilty to mistreating, shocking and hitting three (3) Iraqi detainees with an M34 blasting device and stripped them of their clothing. His punishment is a ...
Feb. 15, 2006
Photograph, Interview (Statement), UCMJ (Court-Martial)
General, Use of electricity, Cramped confinement, Physical assault
This Article 15 procedure was brought against a soldier who was present during an interrogation of a detainee at a jail facility in Iraq. The soldier was accused of punching the detainee with a closed fist; firing a weapon near his head; and ...
Feb. 15, 2006
UCMJ (Article 15)
General, Assault/death, Family/others, Physical assault, Threat
This Army memorandum concerns dismissing certain charges against a soldier involved in detainee abuse to avoid Court-Martial proceedings and the legal consequences of such an action. The contents of the memo refers to the soldier accepting a ...
Feb. 15, 2006
Legal Memo, UCMJ (Court-Martial)
Raymond Odierno
Raymond T. Odierno
Physical assault, General
This Army memorandum concerns dismissing certain charges against certain soldiers involved in detainee abuse to avoid Court-Martial proceedings and the legal consequences of such an action. The contents of the memo refers to the soldiers ...
Feb. 15, 2006
Legal Memo, Interview (Statement), UCMJ (Court-Martial)
Raymond Odierno
Raymond T. Odierno
Physical assault, Face slap or insult slap, General, Assault/death, Use of phobias, Threat
This document is a letter from the defense counsel of an accused soldier for an adjournment in the proceedings for the soldier to be assigned new defense counsel and to allow that new counsel to prepare for trial in the matter. The facts of the ...
Feb. 15, 2006
Non-legal Memo, Letter, UCMJ (Article 32)
Sexual, Assault/death, Family/others, Hooding/Goggling, Physical assault, Threat, Environmental manipulation
Record of UCMJ Article 15 proceedings relating to CID report 0035-03-CID259-6114. Allegation of misconduct was against a soldier for shooting and killing a detainee during a disturbance in the prison at Camp Bucca, Iraq. The report found that ...
Feb. 15, 2006
Investigative File (AR 15-6)
Geoffrey D. Miller
Ahmes Al-Haddii Yasiree
Physical assault, General