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 (4)

RelevanceDateRelease Date
Aug. 12, 2002 | CIA | ACLU-RDI 6669
This cable provides a report of day 9 of the cycle of interrogation carried out on detainee Abu Zubaydah on August 12, 2002. It includes details of interrogators using a combination of waterboarding, walling, cramped confinement, hooding, and ...
Dec. 20, 2016
Cable
Abu Zubaydah
EIT, Use of water, Waterboarding, Cramped confinement, Environmental manipulation, Light or sound, Hooding/Goggling
Apr. 24, 2002 | ACLU-RDI 6789
This April 2002 cable provides an updated interrogation plan for Abu Zubaydah, which includes descriptions of the physical environment, security measures, and interrogation process, including the use of interrogation techniques.
Dec. 20, 2016
Cable
Abu Zubaydah
Cramped confinement, Sleep deprivation, Environmental manipulation, Light or sound, Temperature
July 01, 2002 | ACLU-RDI 6743
This July 2002 cable is a request for guidance from headquarters on the use of enhanced interrogation techniques. The cable expresses hesitation about using these techniques on subjects being held in solitary confinement without legal ...
Dec. 20, 2016
Cable
EIT, SERE, Use of water, Waterboarding, Physical assault, Face slap or insult slap, Stomach/abdominal slap, Walling, Threat, Mock Burial, Stress positions, Cramped confinement, Sleep deprivation, Environmental manipulation, Light or sound, Hooding/Goggling
Aug. 01, 2002 | OLC | ACLU-RDI 6542
This August 1, 2002 OLC memo from Jay Bybee to John Rizzo discusses whether certain proposed conduct in the interrogation of Abu Zubaydah would violate the prohibition against torture found at Section 2340A of title 18 of the U.S. Code. The memo ...
Legal Memo
Jay S. Bybee
John A. Rizzo
Jay Bybee, John A. Rizzo
Abu Zubaydah
EIT, SERE, Use of water, Waterboarding, Stress positions, Cramped confinement, Use of phobias, Sleep deprivation, Isolation, Environmental manipulation, Light or sound