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 (140)

RelevanceDateRelease Date
July 14, 2004 | FBI | ACLU-RDI 4793

An email from an FBI agent responding to a question about alleged abuse at Guantanamo Bay. The agent stated that he was stationed at Guantanamo Bay from June 2, 2003 to July 17, 2004. During the agent's time at GTMO, he/she occasionally ...

Jan. 02, 2007
Email
Yussef Mohammed Mubarak al Shihri
Use of water, Other, Sleep deprivation, Environmental manipulation, Light or sound, Other Humiliation, Sexual, Religious, Other
May 13, 2004 | Non-US | ACLU-RDI 4729
This letter is from Shafiq Rasul and Asif Iqbal, two former Guantanamo detainees. The letter is on the letterhead of the Centre for Constitutional Rights and states that
May 09, 2005
Letter
Shafiq Rasul | Asif Iqbal
George W. Bush
George W. Bush, David McWilliams, Geoffrey D. Miller
Shafiq Rasul, Asif Iqbal
Physical assault, General, Stress positions, Cramped confinement, Sleep deprivation, Environmental manipulation, Light or sound, Hooding/Goggling, Other Humiliation, Sexual
July 20, 2007 | OLC | ACLU-RDI 4552

An OLC memo addressing whether the CIA may use 6 "enhanced interrogation techniques" in the interrogation of high value detainees: (1) dietary manipulation, (2) extended sleep deprivation, (3) facial hold, (4) attention grasp, (5) ...

Aug. 24, 2009
Legal Memo
Steven G. Bradbury
John A. Rizzo
John A. Rizzo, Steven G. Bradbury, John McCain, Duncan Lee Hunter, Patrick Leahy, Jesse Francis Bingaman, Jr., Hillary Clinton, John Warner, Richard J. Durbin, Christopher H. Shays, Patrick Philbin, Michael Hayden, Condoleeza Rice, Antonio Taguba
Abd al Hadi al Iraqi, Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, Abu Zubaydah, Jose Padilla, Ali Saleh Kahlah al-Marri
EIT, SERE, Waterboarding, Physical assault, Face slap or insult slap, Stomach/abdominal slap, Attention grasp, Facial hold, Assault/death, Use of electricity, Use of phobias, Sleep deprivation, Dietary manipulation, Environmental manipulation, Temperature, Nudity, Sexual, Use of water, Threat, Other Humiliation
Feb. 22, 2007 | CID | ACLU-RDI 4537

This CID Report investigates numerous allegations of abuse that occurred in September and November of 2003 in Iraq’s Abu Ghraib Prison. Included in the file is the testimony of detainee victims and members of the 372nd Military Police ...

Nov. 05, 2008
Investigative File (CID)
Habibullah, Dilawar
Face slap or insult slap, Stomach/abdominal slap, Sexual, General, Threat, Assault/death, Stress positions, Sleep deprivation, Isolation, Light or sound, Hooding/Goggling, Nudity, Sexual, Physical assault, Environmental manipulation, Other Humiliation
Oct. 14, 2005 | CID | ACLU-RDI 4527
CID investigation into allegations of prisoner maltreatment/abuse at Camp Cropper, Iraq. The investigation established probable cause to believe that eleven (11) members of the Military Police assigned to Camp Cropper engaged in cruelty and ...
Oct. 01, 2008
Investigative File (CID)
Face slap or insult slap, General, Assault/death, Temperature, Sexual, Physical assault, Threat, Environmental manipulation, Other Humiliation
June 07, 2004 | DOS | ACLU-RDI 4070

Emails discuss and include a Wall Street Journal article entitled "Pentagon Report Set Framework for Use of Torture: Security or Legal Factors Could Trump Restrictions, Memo to Rumsfeld Argued." The article discusses a classified ...

Dec. 30, 2004
Email
Robert K. Harris
Edward R. Cummings | Samuel M. Witten | Tom Malionek | Jonathan B. Schwartz
Donald H. Rumsfeld, George W. Bush, James T. Hill, Condoleeza Rice, Patrick Leahy, William J. Haynes, II, Thomas Malionek, William J. Gehron, Robert K. Harris, Edward R. Cummings, Samuel M. Witten, Michael G. Kozak, James H. Thessin, Jonathan B. Schwartz, William Howard Taft, IV, Robert E. Dalton, Katherine M. Gorove, Lois L. Allder, Daphne W. Cook, Darlyce M. Eley
Threat, Family/others, Stress positions, Sleep deprivation, Dietary manipulation, Nudity, Other Humiliation, Sexual, Religious
Apr. 30, 2004 | DOS | ACLU-RDI 4062
Emails discuss a Reuters article that reports a former head of the Guantanamo Bay jail was sent to U.S. operated prisons in Iraq in order to ensure proper prison conditions.
Dec. 30, 2004
Email
JoAnn J. Dolan
Geoffrey D. Miller, Mark Traecey Patrick Kimmitt, JoAnn J. Dolan, George W. Bush, William J. Gehron
Stress positions, Nudity, Other Humiliation, Sexual, Other
May 09, 2004 | DOS | ACLU-RDI 4063
Emails include an Associated Press article that reports on allegations of abuse in Iraq. The article includes accounts of abuse by released detainees, allegations included dog attacks, dietary manipulation and extended periods of hoodings.
Dec. 30, 2004
Email
Theresa K. Mitchell | JoAnn J. Dolan | Todd F. Buchwald | Harold L. Ingram
Janis Leigh Karpinski, JoAnn J. Dolan, Todd F. Buchwald, Harold L. Ingram, Lincoln P. Bloomfield, Peter G. Schmeelk , Rose M. Likins, Robin H. Sakoda, William J. Gehron
Rahad Naif, Hassan Naif, Saad Naif, Ra'id Mohammed Hassan
Use of electricity, Stress positions, Cramped confinement, Use of phobias, Sleep deprivation, Dietary manipulation, Environmental manipulation, Temperature, Hooding/Goggling, Nudity, Other Humiliation, Sexual, Other
June 01, 2004 | ACLU-RDI 3546
This documenis an academic paper presented by Philip B. Heyman of Harvard University.
June 01, 2005
Other
Stress positions, Sleep deprivation, Environmental manipulation, Hooding/Goggling, Other Humiliation, Sexual
July 31, 2004 | FBI | ACLU-RDI 3534
Email updates recipient of the current environment in Guantanamo, during the author's assignment there, he/she has observed approximately twelve interrogations. He/she observed or learned of the following techniques being used by the Department ...
Feb. 06, 2006
Email
Stress positions, Environmental manipulation, Light or sound, Temperature, Other Humiliation, Sexual, Religious, Manipulation of interrogator’s identity, Other