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 (500)

RelevanceDateRelease Date
Jan. 20, 2005 | USAF | ACLU-RDI 4792
DOD interview of FBI Behavioral Specialist who toured though Guantanamo from October 21, 2002 though January 7, 2003. The Behavioral Specialist stated that he did not see the use of Military Working Dogs (MWDs) but did hear detainees complaining ...
Jan. 02, 2007
Interview (Statement)
John T. Furlow
John T. Furlow, Geoffrey D. Miller
Physical assault, General, Sexual, Environmental manipulation, Temperature
Dec. 05, 2004 | CID | ACLU-RDI 113

An investigation finding probable cause to believe that two U.S. soldiers committed the offense of assault when they punched and kicked a local detainee whom they picked up at a roadblock and transported to an Iraqi prison. A sergeant took ...

Jan. 31, 2005
Investigative File (CID)
Jacqueline J. Scott, Thom Jones
Physical assault, General, Other
Nov. 22, 2004 | DOD | ACLU-RDI 5624
This is the Autopsy Report Autopsy Report: Hussein Farhad Ali, a detainee who was captured by US forces in Mosul, Iraq. It is reported that Mr. Ali died within 72 hours after being taken in to custody. The Report indicates that Mr. Ali suffered ...
Jan. 14, 2011
Medical (Autopsy)
Hussein Farhad Ali
Use of water, Water dousing, Other, Physical assault, General, Face slap or insult slap, Stress positions, Environmental manipulation, Hooding/Goggling
Nov. 17, 2004 | CID | ACLU-RDI 116

An investigation into allegations by an Iraqi detinee that interrogators hand- and leg-cuffed him to the floor and pushed him over while blindfolded, causing severe pain and nerve bruising in his wrist. the investigation concluded that there ...

Jan. 31, 2005
Investigative File (CID)
Jacqueline J. Scott, John Peterson
Physical assault, General, Stress positions, Isolation, Environmental manipulation, Hooding/Goggling
Nov. 11, 2004 | CID | ACLU-RDI 157
Report of investigation into the deaths of Fras Moazahim Habib and Husham Nafit Ghafar, two detainees who died in US custody at Abu Ghraib, during the course of a prison riot in Ganci 3. Habib died of a gunshot wound to the chest and Ghafar died ...
Mar. 02, 2005
Investigative File (CID), Photograph
Fras Moazahim Habib, Husham Nafit Ghafar
Physical assault, General
Nov. 11, 2004 | DON | ACLU-RDI 617
A Detainee at Guantanamo reported that his fellow detainees beat him and threw urine upon him. This memo is an acknowledgment of the receipt of that complaint. This is related to ACLU RDI 616.
Nov. 30, 2005
Non-legal Memo
Physical assault, General, Other Humiliation
Nov. 08, 2004 | DOA | ACLU-RDI 2315
Report on an informal investigation conducted by Brigadier General Richard P. Formica into specific allegations of detainee abuse within CJSOTF-AP [Combined Joint Special Operating Task Force – Arabian Peninsula] and 5th SF [Special Forces] Group ...
June 15, 2006
Oversight Report, Investigative File
Richard P. Formica
Ricardo Sanchez, George R. Fay, Richard P. Formica
Use of water, Water dousing, Physical assault, Face slap or insult slap, Sexual, General, Threat, Assault/death, Family/others, Use of electricity, Stress positions, Cramped confinement, Use of phobias, Sleep deprivation, Dietary manipulation, Environmental manipulation, Light or sound, Hooding/Goggling, Nudity, Other Humiliation, Sexual
Nov. 05, 2004 | CSRT | ACLU-RDI 589

Tribunal determined that the detainee in question has been accurately classified as an enemy combatant and that he was responsible for rocket attacks against the United States forces from the Laywan Mountain. Detainee denied being a member of ...

Nov. 30, 2005
CSRT
Habib Rahman
Physical assault, General, Threat, Use of phobias, Nudity
Nov. 04, 2004 | CID | ACLU-RDI 1762
Investigation based on civilian contractor's allegation that he witnessed U.S. Marines abusing Iraqi detainees. In a sworn statement the contractor says he saw Marines place bags over an Iraqi prisoners' heads and strike him in the head with a ...
Nov. 30, 2005
Investigative File (CID)
Physical assault, Attention grasp, General, Threat, Assault/death, Environmental manipulation, Hooding/Goggling
Nov. 03, 2004 | CID | ACLU-RDI 117

An investigation into allegations that U.S. forces had kicked a detainee in the legs and back while he was blindfolded and handcuffed so tightly that he received permanent nerve damage in his wrist. Investigation concluded that the allegations ...

Jan. 31, 2005
Investigative File (CID)
Jacqueline J. Scott
Physical assault, General, Isolation, Environmental manipulation, Hooding/Goggling