Human Rights First | Us Law & Security

TORTURE: QUICK FACTS

At least 45 detainees died in U.S. custody due to suspected or confirmed criminal homicides.^[1] At least eight people were tortured to death. At least 98 detainees have died while in U.S. custody in Iraq or Afghanistan;^[2]

At least 69 of the detainees died at locations other than Abu Ghraib;^[3]

At least 51 detainees have died in U.S. custody since Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld was informed of the abuses at Abu Ghraib on January 16, 2004;^[4]

12 deaths have led to punishments of U.S. personnel;^[5]

0 CIA personnel have been charged with wrongdoing in connection with alleged involvement in at least 5 deaths;^[6]

As of November 2005, over 83,000 people have been held in U.S. custody, and about 30,000 of those were entered "into the system," and assigned internment serial numbers in Iraq, Guantanamo Bay, and Afghanistan;^[7]

There have been nearly 600 criminal investigations into allegations of detainee abuse; each investigation tends to include more than one U.S. soldier, more than one instance of abuse, and more than one victim. Allegations against 250 Soldiers have been addressed in courts-martial, non-judicial punishments, and other adverse administrative punishments. The highest ranking military member judicially punished in connection with the death of a detainee is Marine Major Clarke Paulus, who was found guilty of maltreatment and dereliction of duty and dismissed from the service.^[8]

Reportedly 100-150 individuals have been rendered from U.S. custody to a foreign country known to torture prisoners, including to Egypt, Syria, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Pakistan;^[9]

There are 6 main acknowledged U.S. detention facilities worldwide--3 in Iraq, 2 in Afghanistan and Guantanamo Bay;^[10]

There are approximately 25 transient facilities - field prisons designed to house detainees only for a short period until they can be released or transferred to a more permanent facility-in Afghanistan and Iraq;^[11]

There are believed to be at least 11 'secret' detention locations used since September 2001. They are/were CIA facilities in Afghanistan, Guantanamo, Poland, Romania, and Jordan, detention facilities in Alizai, Kohat and Peshawar in Pakistan, a facility on the U.S. Naval Base on the island of Diego-Garcia, and detentions of prisoners on U.S. ships, particularly the USS Peleliu and USS Bataan.^[12]

Over 15,000 people are currently in U.S. detention in just Iraq, Afghanistan and Guantanamo Bay. As of February 16, 2006, in Iraq, there were 14,389 detainees in U.S. custody; as of December 2005, the U.S. was holding approximately 500 detainees in Afghanistan; as of February 10, 2006 there are approximately 490 detainees held at Guantanamo Bay and one enemy combatants held in the U.S.;^[13]

36 prisoners are believed to be held in unknown locations;^[14]

At least 376 foreign fighters detained in Iraq to whom the Administration has asserted the Geneva Conventions do not apply;^[15]

There were up to 100 ghost detainees in Iraq;^[16]

The U.S. transferred at least one dozen prisoners out of Iraq for further interrogation in violation of the Geneva Conventions;^[17]

8 percent of 517 Guantanamo detainees were considered al Qaeda fighters by the U.S. Government. Of the remaining detainees, 40% have no definitive connection to al Qaeda or Taliban.^[18]

5 percent of the 517 detainees held at Guantanamo were captured by the United States and the majority of those currently in custody were turned over by other parties during a time when the United States was offering large sums for captured prisoners.^[19]

At least 267 detainees have been released from Guantanamo Bay since January 2002. 187 were released out right, and 80 were transferred to their home countries for continued detention;^[20]

38 detainees at Guantanamo determined not to be enemy combatants pursuant to CSRT and at least 23 detainees subsequently released; 558 CSRTS conducted in total^[21]

As of February 9, 2006, the military had completed its first round of Administrative Review Board (ARB) hearings, resulting in 463 board recommendations of which Deputy Secretary of Defense Gordon R. England, the Designated Civilian Official for ARBs decided to allow 14 releases (3 percent), 120 transfers (26 percent) and to continue to detain 329 individuals (71 percent);^[22]

^[1] Human Rights First, COMMAND’S RESPONSIBILITY: DETAINEE DEATHS IN U.S. CUSTODY IN IRAQ AND AFGHANISTAN (Feb. 2006), available at http://www.humanrightsfirst.org/command.

^[2]Human Rights First includes in its count of 98 deaths any death caused by one or more members of the U.S. Armed Forces or other official U.S. governmental agency while the person was under U.S. control, including a death at a detainee’s home, a death during an alleged escape attempt, and death at the point of capture but after a person’s surrender. The 98 deaths also include ten deaths about which only minimal information, such as name or a date of death is publicly available, and for which there is no publicly available information on cause or circumstances of death. For the purposes of this Report, Human Rights First has not included in its analysis deaths in situations where U.S. custody is open to question (including deaths allegedly caused at check-point stops where circumstances of the stop or surrender are unclear), or deaths allegedly caused at a later point in time by injuries sustained during combat (including alleged “mercy” killings). See COMMAND’S RESPONSIBILITY.
The total number of deaths Human Rights First counts is 141; this number includes 38 detainees who died when their detention facilities were struck by mortar attacks, and five deaths of detainees killed in U.S. custody by other detainees. While these latter 43 deaths are of concern – and appear to be in part a reflection of poor operational decisions, noted by former Defense Secretary James Schlesinger, to house detainees in areas of active danger – they were not a function of interrogation or detention policy or practice. See FINAL REPORT OF THE INDEP. PANEL TO REVIEW DOD DETENTION OPERATIONS, Aug. 2004, at 63, 77.

^[3] COMMAND’S RESPONSIBILITY.

^[4] As of February 10, 2006. See COMMAND’S RESPONSIBILITY.

^[5] COMMAND’S RESPONSIBILITY.

^[6] COMMAND’S RESPONSIBILITY.

^[7] Assoc. Press, U.S. Has Detained 83,000 in Anti-terror Effort, Nov. 16, 2005, available at http://msnbc.msn.com/id/10071594/; Email from Maj. Wayne Marotto to Priti Patel, Fri 1/20/2006 5:10 PM.

^[8] Email from Maj. Wayne Marotto to Priti Patel, Fri 1/20/2006 5:10 PM; See also Francis J. Harvey and Peter J. Schoomaker, Detainee Details, NAT’L REVIEW ONLINE, Sept. 22, 2005, available at http://www.nationalreview.com/comment/harvey_schoomaker200509220821.asp.
Monica Davey, An Iraqi Police Officer’s Death, A Soldier’s Varying Accounts, N.Y. TIMES, May 23, 2005, A1, available at http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/23/national/23soldier.html; News Transcript, Dep’t of Defense, DoD News Briefing (June 1, 2005), available at http://www.defenselink.mil/transcripts/2005/tr20050601-secdef2981.html.

^[9] Douglas Jehl and David Johnston, Rule Change Lets CIA Freely Send Suspects Abroad to Jails, N.Y. TIMES, Feb. 6, 2005, available at http://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/06/politics/06intel.html; Jane Mayer, Outsourcing Torture, NEW YORKER, Feb. 14, 2005, available at http://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/06/politics/06intel.html.

^[10] See Human Rights First, BEHIND THE WIRE: AN UPDATE TO ENDING SECRET DETENTIONS (March 2005) available at http://www.humanrightsfirst.org/us_law/PDF/behind-the-wire-033005.pdf; E-mail from LTC Michele Dewerth, Combined Forces Command to Priti Patel, Human Rights First (June 9, 2004, 13:36 EST) (on file with Human Rights First); Telephone Interview with Lt. Col. Barry Johnson, Detainee Operations, Multi-National Forces (Oct. 20, 2004); Press Briefing, White House (Jan. 9, 2002), available at http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2002/01/20020109-5.html.

^[11] BEHIND THE WIRE; Telephone Interview with Lt. Col. Barry Johnson, Detainee Operations, Multi-National Forces (Oct. 20, 2004) ; E-mail from LTC Pamela Keeton, Public Affairs Officer, Combined Forces Command to Priti Patel, Human Rights First (Oct. 25, 2004, 10:51 EST) (on file with Human Rights First); U.S. Military to Allow Red Cross to Visit Second Afghan Prison, ASSOC. PRESS, June 9, 2004, available at http://news.bostonherald.com/international/view.bg?articleid=31223&format=; Prisoner Abuse Claim Emerges in Afghanistan, AGENCE FRANCE PRESSE, July 6, 2004, available at http://www.aljazeerah.info/News%20archives/2004%20News%20archives/
July/4%20n/Prisoner%20Abuse%20Claim%20Emerges%20in%20Afghanistan.htm; Other news sources list the number of outlying facilities to be 30. See Declan Walsh, Frustrated US Forces Fail to Win Hearts and Minds: Troops Hunting Taliban Run Into Wall of Silence, GUARDIAN, Sept. 23, 2004, available at http://www.guardian.co.uk/afghanistan/story/0,1284,1310564,00.html.

^[12] Human Rights First, ENDING SECRET DETENTIONS (June 2004), available at http://www.humanrightsfirst.org/us_law/PDF/EndingSecretDetentions_web.pdf; Dana Priest and Joe Stephens, Secret World of U.S. Interrogation: Long History of Tactics in Overseas Prisons is Coming to Light, WASH. POST, May 11, 2004, at A1; David Kaplan and Ilana Ozernoy, Al Qaeda’s Desert Inn, U.S. NEWS AND WORLD REPORT, June 2, 2003, at 22-23; Yossi Melman, CIA Holding Al-Qaida Suspects in Secret Jordanian Lockup, HAARETZ, Oct. 13, 2004, available at http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article7066.htm; See Expeditionary Strike Force One, U.S. Naval Special Operations Command Office of Public Affairs, ESG 1 Strikes From the Sea, Jan. 5, 2004, available at http://www.navsoc.navy.mil/esg1/pdf/dhowtakedown.pdf ; Australian Taliban Fighter Handed Over to U.S. Military Forces in Afghanistan, ASSOC. PRESS, Dec. 17, 2001, available at http://multimedia.belointeractive.com/attack/military/1217australia.html; Carlotta Gall and Mark Lander, A Nation Challenged: The Captives, N.Y. TIMES, Jan. 5, 2002, at A5; Memorandum from Dep’t of Army, U.S. Army Crim. Investigation Command, Afghanistan (July 2, 2004), re: CID Report of Investigation – Final (C)/SSI – 0061-2004-CID369-69277-5C1J (on file with Human Rights First); Dana Priest and Barton Gellman, U.S. Decries Abuse but Defends Interrogations; 'Stress and Duress' Tactics Used on Terrorism Suspects Held in Secret Overseas Facilities, WASH. POST, Dec. 26 2002, at A1; Dana Priest, Long-Term Plan Sought For Terror Suspects, WASH. POST, Jan. 2, 2005, at A1; News Release, Dep’t of Defense, Defense Department Operational Update Briefing (July 14, 2004), available at http://www.defenselink.mil/transcripts/2004/tr20040714-1002.html; Glenn Kessler, U.S. Will Address E.U. Questions on CIA Prisons Body May Sanction Countries Involved, Wash. Post, Nov. 30, 2005, at A1.

^[13] Assoc. Press, Details on Detainees in US Custody in Iraq, Feb. 15, 2006, available at http://www.oregonlive.com/newsflash/iraq/index.ssf?/base/international-29/1140072383272540.xml&storylist=oriraq; Email from CPIC Press Desk to Priti Patel, Thu 12/1/2005 6:54 AM; Email from Lt. Michael Cody, Kabul Press Desk to Priti Patel, Thu 12/1/2005 7:17 AM; Josh White, U.S. Frees 7 Afghans From Guantanamo, WASH. POST, Feb. 10, 2006, A14; Andrew Zajac, Legal Battle Plods Along for `Enemy Combatant,’CHI. TRIB., Feb 10, 2006, available at http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/politics/13839118.htm

^[14] Douglas Jehl, Questions Left by C.I.A. Chief on Torture Use, N.Y. TIMES, March 18, 2005, A1.

^[15] William M. Arkin, Early Warning: 190,000 and Other Terrorism Numbers, (Dec 13, 2005), available at http://blogs.washingtonpost.com/earlywarning/2005/12/
war_on_terroris.html#more; Douglas Jehl and Neil A. Lewis, U.S. Said to Hold More Foreigners in Iraq Fighting, N.Y. TIMES, Jan. 8, 2005, at A1. Recent reports indicate that the U.S. military has 391 foreign fighters in its custody. See Eric Schmitt, U.S. and Allies Capture More Foreign Fighters, N.Y. TIMES, June 19, 2005.

^[16] Investigation of the 205th Military Intelligence Brigade At Abu Ghraib Prison: Hearing Before the Senate Armed Services Comm., 108th Cong. (2004) (statement of Gen. Paul Kern, Commanding General, United States Army Material Command)

^[17] Douglas Jehl, U.S. Action Bars Rights of Some Captured in Iraq, N.Y. TIMES, Oct. 25, 2004, at A1.

^[18] MARK DEBEAUX & JOSHUA DENBEAUX, REPORT ON GUANTANAMO DETAINEES: A PROFILE OF 517 DETAINEES THROUGH ANALYSIS OF DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE DATA (February 2006) (interim report), available at http://law.shu.edu/news/guantanamo_report_final_2_08_06.pdf

^[19] MARK DEBEAUX & JOSHUA DENBEAUX, REPORT ON GUANTANAMO DETAINEES: A PROFILE OF 517 DETAINEES THROUGH ANALYSIS OF DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE DATA (February 2006) (interim report), available at http://law.shu.edu/news/guantanamo_report_final_2_08_06.pdf

^[20] News Release, Dep’t of Defense, Detainee Release Announced, Feb. 9, 2006, available at http://www.defenselink.mil/releases/2006/nr20060209-12461.html.

^[21] Dep’t of Defense, Combatant Status Review Tribunal Summary, March 29, 2005, available at http://www.defenselink.mil/news/Mar2005/d20050329csrt.pdf; Pamela Hess, 38 GTMO Prisoners Note ‘Enemy Combatants’, WASH. TIMES, March 29, 2005, available at http://washingtontimes.com/upi-breaking/20050329-060048-6884r.htm.

^[22] Dep’t of Defense News Release, Guantanamo Bay Detainee Administrative Review Board Decisions Completed, Feb. 9, 2006, available at http://www.defenselink.mil/releases/2006/nr20060209-12464.html.