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 (192)

CID Report of investigation into alleged abuse and sodomy of detainee. Victim was captured on May 4, 2004 “by two males wearing green t-shirts, cargo pants and tan vests, who stated they worked for the Criminal Investigations."He was handcuffed, ...
Army commenced an investigation prompted by "allegations documented in an excerpt from the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) on the Treatment by the Coalition Forces of Prisoners of War and Other Protected Persons by the Geneva ...
Dec. 30, 2004
Investigative File (CID)
Jacqueline J. Scott
Use of water, Other, Physical assault, General, Stress positions, Sleep deprivation, Environmental manipulation, Temperature, Nudity
This email is a response to a Bureau wide memo sent by Steve McCraw to illicit information from FBI agents who toured through Guantanamo Bay to report any suspected or witnessed abuse of detainees at Guantanamo Bay. This FBI official observed a ...

An investigation into a detainee's allegation that he was "tortured" at a U.S. facility in Mosul in March 2004. Detainee indicated that after being arrested but before arriving at the facility, his captors -- American men in civilian ...

Interview of a 2nd Light Armored Reconnaisance Battalion (2nd LAR) Interpreter regarding his knowledge of detainee abuse. The interpreter stated that on July 5, 2004 he briefed detainees on the detention facility's rules, and that after the ...
Jan. 02, 2007
Interview (Summaries/Notes)
Abdullah Tohtasinovich Magrupov
Physical assault, General, Environmental manipulation, Hooding/Goggling

Investigation initiated on the basis of a report by a serviceman's wife that he had a photograph of himself pointing a gun at the head of a bound and hooded detainee. When interviewed, the soldier explained that he was following orders and ...

A CID report concerning a detainee's allegation that a U.S. soldier repeatedly punched him in the stomach and that Kurds kicked him in the legs during interrogation in custody at the Baghdad International Airport. The detainee also stated that ...

Dec. 30, 2004
Investigative File (CID)
John Peterson, Jacqueline J. Scott
Physical assault, General, Environmental manipulation, Hooding/Goggling
CID Report of investigation regarding alleged abuse of detainee at unknown detention facility in Tikrit, Iraq. Detainee picked up by Iraqi Police on or about April 15, 2004. He was interviewed with the assistance of an interpreter on May 5, ...
Dec. 30, 2004
Investigative File (CID)
John Peterson
Physical assault, General, Stress positions, Cramped confinement, Sleep deprivation, Environmental manipulation, Hooding/Goggling, Nudity

Investigation into a recordable compact disc containing images of suspected detainee abuse in in Afghanistan between January 11 and January 19, 2004. The images on the CD depicted U.S. soldiers holding weapons on hooded and bound local ...

Nov. 08, 2004
Investigative File (CID)
Physical assault, Threat, Assault/death, Environmental manipulation, Hooding/Goggling
Email details FBI investigation of mistreatment, abuse or "highly aggressive" treatment of detainees in Iraq that are known or observed by FBI agents who have cycled through Guantanamo. The email states that fourteen (14) agents have witnessed ...