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 (97)

RelevanceDateRelease Date
Nov. 27, 2003 | Non-US | ACLU-RDI 4028
International Herald Tribune article by Johan Steyn entitled "Guantanamo: A Monstrous Failure of Justice" that is a report on a speech Lord Steyn gave at the 27th F.A. Mann Lecture. Lord Steyn condemns US treatment of detainees at Guantanamo.
Dec. 30, 2004
Other
George W. Bush
June 09, 2004 | Non-US | ACLU-RDI 4011
A letter from Netta Voutilainen of Amnisty International to Sec. of State Powell expressing concern for Mohammed Jassem 'Abd al-'Issawi, detained in Abu Ghraib since 12/17/03. Ms. Voutilainen askes "to be informed why he has been detained; and I ...
Dec. 30, 2004
Letter
Netta Voutilainen
Colin L. Powell
Colin L. Powell, George W. Bush, Donald H. Rumsfeld, L. Paul Bremer, Bonnie McElveen-Hunter
Aug. 06, 1999 | Non-US | ACLU-RDI 4002
United nations Secretary-General's Bulletin Observance by United Nations forces of international humanitarian law. The Secretary-General, for the purpose of setting out fundamental principles and rules of international humanitarian law applicable ...
Aug. 12, 2004 | Non-US | ACLU-RDI 3995
Cover letter from Craig Mokhiber, Officer-in-Charge, Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights to U.S. Amb. to the U.N. John Danforth enclosing a letter from Prof. Cherif Bassiouni, Independent Expert for Human Rights in Afghanistan. ...
Dec. 30, 2004
Letter
Craig Mokhiber
John Danforth
John Claggett Danforth
Apr. 05, 2004 | Non-US | ACLU-RDI 3990
Fax Cover sheet from Steven Schneebaum, Patton Boggs Law Firm to Secretary of State Colin Powell
Dec. 30, 2004
Letter
Steven M. Schneebaum
Colin L. Powell
Colin L. Powell
May 03, 2004 | Non-US | ACLU-RDI 3991
Letter from Cristophe Girod, International Committee for the Red Cross (ICRC), to William Howard Taft IV re: Working Paper on ICRC Sixth Visit to the internment facilities at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, between January 26 th and March 8th 2004. Mr. ...
Dec. 30, 2004
Letter
Christophe Girod
William Howard Taft, IV
William Howard Taft, IV, Jay W. Hood, P. Michael McKinley, Charles A. Allen, John B. Bellinger, III, Shirin Tahir-Kheli, Benjamin R. Mixon
Dec. 03, 2004 | Non-US | ACLU-RDI 3979
Letter from Yvan Peeters to Sec. of State Powell requesting that children being held at Guantanamo be given access to their families and to lawyers, and either be promptly charged and tried or released.
Dec. 30, 2004
Letter
Yvan Peeters
Colin L. Powell
Colin L. Powell
Oct. 20, 2003 | Non-US | ACLU-RDI 3974
Inter-American Commission on Human Rights litigation requesting that the Commission take measures to have the legal status of detainees held at Guantanamo be determined by a competent court, and to protect against the torture of detainees.
Dec. 30, 2004
Judicial (Pleading)
Physical assault, Assault/death, Stress positions, Isolation, Temperature, Threat, Environmental manipulation
Oct. 20, 2003 | Non-US | ACLU-RDI 3973

Inter-American Commission on Human Rights Hearing on Guantanamo Detainees re: Signature Page of Submission cover sheet, signed by Steven Watt (CCR), Viviana Krsticevic (CIJL), and Roxanna Altholz, (CIJL).

Dec. 08, 2003 | Non-US | ACLU-RDI 3955
Letter from Nury A. Turkel, General Secretary, Uyghur American Association to Secretary of State Colin Powell requesting that the U.S. not returning the Uyghurs to China out of concern that they will be subject to persecution and torture. Mr. ...
Dec. 30, 2004
Letter
Nury A. Turkel
Colin L. Powell
Colin L. Powell