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 (65)

Two NCOs and two enlisted men from B Company, 1/36th Infantry Regiment, 1st Armored Division severely assaulted several detained youths while the detainees' heads were covered with sandbags and their hands restrained with flexi-cuffs. The ...

On November 14, 2003, a soldier provided a sworn statement saying that while he was deployed to Iraq, he "saw what I think were war crimes.... In my mind, my chain of command did nothing to stop these war crimes, and allowed them to ...

Dec. 30, 2004
Investigative File (CID), Photograph
Physical assault, General, Stress positions, Dietary manipulation, Environmental manipulation, Hooding/Goggling, Other

Juvenile detainee in Camp Bucca, Iraq stated that a guard from the 320th Military Police (MP) Battalion had twisted his arm while removing a piece of fruit from his hand. (The guard had accused him of stealing the fruit.) The detainee's elbow ...

Dec. 30, 2004
Investigative File (CID)
Physical assault, General

NCIS Report of investigation initiated on June 13, 2003 following notification from officers at Camp Pendleton that, on the morning of June 13, a member of a unit “reported that on the previous evening (12 Jun 03) at a unit party, a ...

Nov. 23, 2004
Investigative File (NCIS)
Physical assault, General

NCIS Report of investigation commenced on June 13, 2003 after officer at Camp Pendleton contacted an NCIS Special Agent to make a statement regarding alleged war crimes committed by a marine, who “was overheard bragging about stabbing ...

Nov. 23, 2004
Investigative File (NCIS)
Donald H. Rumsfeld
Physical assault, General

NCIS Report of investigation commenced on March 31, 2003 after receipt of report that Mr. El Gashame, an Iraqi detainee, had been shot and killed on March 29, 2003. Mr. El Gashame was “a suspected Fedayeen member” (based on a ...

Nov. 23, 2004
Investigative File (NCIS)
Hemdan Haby Heshfan El Gashame
Physical assault, General
Investigation into an incident of two soldiers assaulting an Iraqi civilian who had been taken into custody of the US Army near the Iraq Museum of Military History, Baghdad, Iraq. The investigation established probable cause to believe that the ...
Nov. 08, 2004
Investigative File (CID), Photograph
John Peterson, Jacqueline J. Scott
Physical assault, Threat, Assault/death

Investigation into the death of detainee Obeed Hethere Radad at Camp Packhorse, Tikrit, Iraq. A specialist from the 4th Fwd. Support. Bn., 4ID, shot and killed Mr. Radad, without first issuing warnings as required under the Rules of ...

Nov. 08, 2004
Investigative File (CID), Photograph
Jacqueline J. Scott, Kevin J. Palgutt, David A. England
Obeed Hethere Radad
Physical assault, Other
CID Investigation into a shooting of a civilian by a tower guard at Camp Bucca International Facility, Iraq. Due to a miscommunication, detainee was initially thought to be deceased, but was treated at a U.S. Army Medical Facility and is ...
Nov. 08, 2004
Investigative File (CID)
Jacqueline J. Scott
Physical assault, General