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 (2)

RelevanceDateRelease Date
Feb. 18, 2002 | DOA | ACLU-RDI 1797
When interrogator left the interrogation room for a few minutes, Special Forces members had entered the room and were blowing smoke on detainee when interrogator returned to the room. Detainee states that others touched his hands with an ...
Dec. 21, 2005
Investigative File, Interview (Transcript)
Physical assault, General, Use of electricity
Feb. 13, 2002 | DOA | ACLU-RDI 1802
Translator tells of incident during interrogation states that when they stepped away from the interview booth Special Forces members entered the booth; all crouched around the prisoner; blew cigarette smoke in his face; and threatened him. The ...
Dec. 21, 2005
Investigative File, Interview (Transcript)
Physical assault, General, Threat, Assault/death, Use of electricity