American Civil Liberties Union

Torture Documents Released Under FOIA


The ACLU filed a request on Oct. 7, 2003, under the Freedom of Information Act demanding the release of information about detainees held overseas by the United States. While many documents have been released, many vital records are still being withheld by the government.
 

 

 

audio Podcast: FOIA Documents Give First-Hand Accounts of Civilian Deaths in Iraq and Afghanistan

On December 12, 2007, the ACLU filed a motion asking a federal judge to hold the CIA in contempt, charging that the agency flouted a court order when it destroyed at least two videotapes documenting the harsh interrogation of prisoners in its custody. More >>

Documents Released

April 2008
4/1/2008 - A secret memo authored by the Department of Justice (DOJ) asserting that President Bush has unlimited power to order brutal interrogations to extract information from detainees was declassified today as a result of an American Civil Liberties Union Freedom of Information Act lawsuit. The memo, written by John Yoo, then a deputy at the DOJ’s Office of Legal Counsel (OLC), was sent to the Defense Department in March 2003.
Statement | Document

January 2007
1/10/2007 - CIA declaration purporting to explain why it cannot publicly disclose August 1, 2002 OLC interrogation techniques memo and President Bush directive regarding CIA overseas detention facilities.
Statement | Document
1/10/2007 - DOD declarations purporting to explain why it cannot publicly disclose numerous documents relating to prisoner abuse.
Statement | Documents
1/2/2007 - Documents obtained from the FBI detail 26 eyewitness accounts by agents of detainee abuse, 17 of which the Bureau apparently chose not to investigate further.
Statement

July 2006
Department of Defense documents show Pentagon silence led to prisoner abuses (7/10/2006)
Log | Statement

June 2006
Department of Defense documents show suicide attempts in Guantanamo in 2002; Formica report; Jacoby report (6/15/2006)
Log | Statement

May 2006
Army Documents Show Senior Official Reportedly Pushed Limits on Detainee Interrogations; New Evidence that Government Knew Abuse was Widespread Before Abu Ghraib Photos (5/2/2006)
Log | Statement

February 2006
Further Evidence Senior Officials Approved Abuse of Prisoners: FBI memo details Guantánamo commander’s repeated refusal to abandon illegal and ineffective interrogation techniques (2/23/2006)
Log | Statement

January 2006
Documents show that the Army received reports of detainee abuse as early as January 2002 (1/12/2006)
Log | Statement

November 2005
Documents released by the Department of Justice Executive Office of US Attorneys (11/9/2005)
Log

October 2005
Autopsies and Death reports reveal deaths of detainees in U.S. custody (10/24/2005)
Log | Selection | Statement

September 2005
Army documents show systemic failures in treatment of detainees; contradict report of Inspector General Mikolashek (9/15/2005)
Log | Selection | Statement

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