Thousands of images depicting U.S. soldiers abusing prisoners in Iraq and Afghanistan may be released this week following the Senate's 'torture report'.

The images, part of a collection from 203 investigations into detainee abuse by U.S. military, are said to depict horrifying methods of torture.

One photo reportedly shows an American soldier raping a female prisoner, while other pictures allegedly depict sexual assaults on prisoners with truncheons, wire and a phosphorescent tube.

President Obama, pictured last week, is under pressure to release the photos, some of which he initially blocked in 2009, claiming they could pose a risk to soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan

Some of the photographs were initially set to be released in 2009, but were blocked after President Obama backtracked, stating that it could pose a safety risk to troops on the ground.

In May 2009, Obama claimed publishing the pictures would inflame anti-American feeling in Iraq and Afghanistan.

'We're not dismissive of the fact that some people could react badly to the publishing of the photographs,' American Civil Liberties Union lawyer Jameel Jaffer told The Daily Beast.

'But this does not mean that there should be a massive heckler's veto that terrorist organizations can wield over the public's right to know.'

'The public has a right to know what happened in these military detention facilities,' Jaffer added, 'in the same way it has a right to know about what happened at the CIA black sites.'

The US government have until Friday to submit their evidence to Alvin Hellerstein, senior judge of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

The images are part of a collection from 203 investigations into detainee abuse in U.S. military prisons such as the notorious Abu Ghraib (pictured) and are said to depict horrifying methods of torture

Under pressure: President Obama pose with his wife Michelle and daughters Sasha and Malia and children dressed like elves at the National Building Museum in Washington on Sunday

The evidence must support why each individual image should be kept from the public.

The possible release of the photographs is part of a long-running Freedom of Information Act lawsuit brought the US government by the American Civil Liberties Union.

The release last week of a Senate report cataloging years of such interrogation tactics has revived debate about legal opinions since discredited and withdrawn and about the decision to not prosecute the program's architects or officers who used the methods.

Civil rights groups in the United States and abroad are renewing calls to prosecute those who relied on techniques that President Barack Obama has called torture.

'How can we seriously use the phrase 'rule of law' if crimes of this magnitude go uninvestigated and unprosecuted?' Jameel Jaffer said.

The Justice Department, which spent years looking into the matter, says it lacks sufficient evidence to convict anyone and found no new information in the report. It also is far from clear that any international case could be brought.

Department officials said they will not revisit their 2012 decision to close the investigation, citing among other challenges the passage of time and the difficulty of proving beyond a reasonable doubt that crimes were committed, especially in light of government memos that gave interrogators extraordinary latitude.