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 (570)

RelevanceDateRelease Date
May 05, 2004 | ACLU-RDI 5057
This article describes the government's criminal investigations into the abuse of prisoners in U.S. custody in Iraq and Afghanistan following the Abu Ghraib scandal. The report describes ongoing investigations by the CIA's Inspector General and ...
Mar. 15, 2013
Other
George W. Bush, Antonio Taguba, Janis Leigh Karpinski, Abdul Basat Al-Turki, Donald H. Rumsfeld, Condoleeza Rice, John Warner, Edward M. Kennedy, Carl Levin, Geoffrey D. Miller
Abed Hamed Mowhoush
May 23, 2004 | CIA | ACLU-RDI 5091
CIA copy of L.A. Times article reporting on the Pentagon's reversal on its conclusion about the death of Abed Hamed Mowhoush, an Iraqi general who died in U.S. custody in 2003. The article describes the history of the Pentagon's position, which ...
Mar. 15, 2013
Other
Mark Traecey Patrick Kimmitt
Abed Hamed Mowhoush
EIT, Use of water, Other, Physical assault, General, Threat, Family/others, Hooding/Goggling, Environmental manipulation
Jan. 04, 2004 | CIA | ACLU-RDI 5102
CIA copy of an article from the London Independent on Sunday reporting on the death of a son of an Iraqi policeman and the "brutal" treatment of some Iraqi prisoners while in British custody. The article describes physical beatings and violent ...
Mar. 15, 2013
Other
Robert Harkins, William Moore
Baha Mousa, Kifah Taha
EIT, Physical assault, General, Face slap or insult slap, Stomach/abdominal slap, Stress positions, Environmental manipulation, Hooding/Goggling
May 07, 2004 | CIA | ACLU-RDI 5103
CIA copy of Washington Post article reporting that Attorney General John Ashcroft had stated that killings or abuse of military detainees in Iraq that involved civilian contractors could be prosecuted by the Justice Department. Ashcroft's ...
Mar. 15, 2013
Other
John D. Ashcroft
Manadel Al-Jamadi, Abed Hamed Mowhoush
June 07, 2004 | CIA | ACLU-RDI 5096
CIA copy of a London Times article describing a woman in Baghdad that learned of her husband Munadel al-Jumeili's death at Abu Ghraib only when a TV program ran an image of him in a story on abuse at that facility. The article explains ...
Mar. 15, 2013
Other
Manadel Al-Jamadi
Sept. 23, 2009 | DOD | ACLU-RDI 5020

This report concerns allegations that mind-altering drugs were administered to facilitate the interrogation of detainees under DOD control between September 2001 and April 2008. The report concluded that it could not substantiate the claim ...

June 28, 2012
Oversight Report
Patricia A. Brannin
Donald H. Rumsfeld, Peter H. Daly, William Melendez, Jay W. Hood, David M. Edgington, Charles A. Blanchard, Thomas W. Cunningham, James T. Faust, Ronald L. Burgess, Jr., Jay Alan Liotta, Laurence K. Burgess
Jose Padilla
Physical assault, General, Stress positions, Sleep deprivation, Other
Feb. 22, 2007 | CID | ACLU-RDI 5170
CID investigation into the death of a detainee, Major General (MG) Abed Hamed Mowhoush. MG Mowhoush was interrogated by U.S. personnel on November 24 and 26, 2003. The names of the interrogators are redacted (except for Staff Sgt. Aaron N. ...
Nov. 10, 2008
Investigative File (CID)
Abed Hamed Mowhoush
Physical assault, General, Stress positions, Other
Nov. 27, 2006 | CID | ACLU-RDI 4535
This report investigates alleged the Homicide or Involuntary Manslaughter of a detainee, Dilar Dababa, by U.S. Forces. On the evening of June 12, 2003, Dababa was captured by Coalition Forces and transported to Baghdad International Airport ...
Nov. 05, 2008
Investigative File (CID)
Dilar Dababa
General, Forced physical training, Physical assault
Sept. 15, 2005 | CID | ACLU-RDI 4536

An investigation into alleged aggravated assault, cruelty, and maltreatment of an Iraqi prisoner by U.S. forces.  The detainee stated that he was held at the "Disco" (a detention facility in Mosul, Iraq) for approximately one ...

Nov. 05, 2008
Investigative File (CID)
Use of water, Other, Physical assault, General, Environmental manipulation, Light or sound, Temperature, Hooding/Goggling, Nudity, Forced physical training
Apr. 06, 2006 | CID | ACLU-RDI 4530
This CID investigation concerns an allegation of a assault upon a detainee while at Baghdad International Airport (BIAP). Detainee alleged that he was assaulted by a black man dressed in an army uniform and was "slapped around" for ten (10) days ...
Oct. 01, 2008
Investigative File (CID)
Physical assault, Face slap or insult slap, General, Environmental manipulation, Hooding/Goggling