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 (888)

RelevanceDateRelease Date
Mar. 18, 2003 | WH | ACLU-RDI 5885
This DOS Cable to the US Mission, Geneva, Switzerland outlining the US position concerning the care, treatment & transfer of detainees captured and detained in the War on Terror and are in US custody.
Oct. 28, 2011
Cable
Kim R. Holmes
Kim R. Holmes, George W. Bush
June 14, 2006 | DOS | ACLU-RDI 5903
This document is a Department of State (DOS) Cable from the Austrian Embassy to DOS discussing Austrian media highlights. This Cable discusses the suicide of three (3) Guantanamo Bay detainees on June 10, 2006, as well as other matters related to ...
Oct. 28, 2011
Cable
Yasser Al Zahrani, Mana Shaman Allabardi Al Tabi, Ali Abdullah Ahmed
June 14, 2006 | DOS | ACLU-RDI 5902
Summary of the media reaction in Damascus to Syrian foreign relations with the US and other countries also named. The Cable also discusses the Suicide of Three (3) Guantanamo Bay Detainees on June 10, 2006.
June 14, 2006 | DOS | ACLU-RDI 5901
This Department of State (DOS) Cable relates that in a symposium organized by the Al-Jazeera TV channel in Khartoum, Sudan, Fathi Khalil, The Dean of the Sudanese Bar Association called for the release of Guantanamo bay detainees and called for ...
Oct. 28, 2011
Cable
Sami al Hajj
Dec. 16, 2010 | FBI | ACLU-RDI 6391
This document is a fax detailing the work by the FBI with detainees held by the Northern Alliance in Sheberghan, Afghanistan. it concludes that, at this time, no detainee can be considered "safe" and recommends several for transfer to Bagram and ...
Mar. 15, 2004 | DOS | ACLU-RDI 4758

State Department cable originating from the embassy in Baghdad describing CPA Administrator Paul Bremer's meeting with Samarra community leaders. Their meeting included discussions of concerns over security and treatment of detainees in Iraq.

May 27, 2008
Cable
L. Paul Bremer
DOS | ACLU-RDI 2396

These notes are a synopsis of points the British government raised with Sec. State Powell concerning the living conditions of detainees at Guantanamo. The Notes detail talking points and matters covered in Sec. State Powell's response to the ...

June 15, 2006
Non-legal Memo, Notes
Colin L. Powell, Pierre-Richard Prosper
Mar. 17, 2003 | ACLU-RDI 2398
Brian M Pharr is sending several files to JoAnn Dolan as the agenda for for a meeting of IAEG on March 18, 2003.
June 15, 2006
Email
Brian M. Pharr
JoAnn J. Dolan
Oct. 29, 2002 | DOS | ACLU-RDI 2400

This email between State Department officials contains several attachments concerning their transfer of detainees to Guantanamo. The document is heavily redacted.

June 15, 2006
Email
Odell C. DeHart
JoAnn J. Dolan | Eliana Davidson | Bridget A. Brink | Jeffery Casler | David T. Johnson | Geeta Pasi | Scharfej Ross-Hyams | David L. Scott
Apr. 25, 2002 | DOS | ACLU-RDI 2402
This email contains four attached files on UK detainees in Guantanamo. The rest of the document is heavily redacted.
June 15, 2006
Email
Brian M. Pharr
JoAnn J. Dolan | Jonathan M. Crock | Susan F. Bryant | Judith B. Cefkin | Shelia J. Peters