April 17th, 2009
CIA agents who used harsh interrogation techniques on terrorism suspects during the Bush era will not be prosecuted, US President Barack Obama has said.
The assurance came as memos were released detailing the range of techniques the CIA was allowed to use during the Bush administration.
Mr Obama banned the use of methods such as sleep deprivation and simulated drowning in his first week in office.
But rights groups have criticised the decision not to seek prosecutions.
Amnesty International said the Department of Justice appeared to be offering a "get-out-of-jail-free card" to individuals who were involved in acts of torture.
The Centre for Constitutional Rights, which has championed the legal rights of the "war on terror" detainees, also expressed its disappointment.
"It is one of the deepest disappointments of this administration that it appears unwilling to uphold the law where crimes have been committed by former officials," it said in a statement.
However, the former head of the CIA under former President George W Bush, Gen Michael Hayden, said the White House move would undermine intelligence work and dissuade foreign agencies from sharing information with the CIA.
"If you want an intelligence service to work for you, they always work on the edge. That's just where they work," he told the Associated Press.
The Obama administration did not say that protection would extend to CIA agents who acted outside the boundaries laid out in the memos, or to those non-CIA staff involved in approving the interrogation limits.
That leaves open the possibility that those lawyers who crafted the legal opinions authorising the techniques, one of whom is now a federal judge, could yet face legal action.
Source: BBC
CIA torture staff get a free pass
