CIA destroyed videos of terror suspect 'torture'

The figure, far higher than first previously admitted, was released by the Obama administration as it discloses details of President Bush's actions in the wake of the 9/11 terror attacks. American spy chiefs are facing calls to be put on trial for staging a cover-up.

The tapes purportedly show CIA agents using harsh interrogation techniques on terror suspects such as waterboarding - tying a suspect to a board and pouring water over their face to suffocate them. President Obama has condemned the technique and his new Attorney General, Eric Holder, said it was "torture".

The CIA's admission over the missing tapes came in documents filed in a lawsuit from the American Civil Liberties Union seeking details about the treatment of suspects in American custody outside the country.

Acting US Attorney Lev Dassin acknowledged the destruction of the tapes in a letter to the judge presiding over the civil liberties lawsuit.

The Union wants the CIA to hand over details of the interrogations of terror suspects. The human rights group has demanded to know what was on the tapes and the identities of those being interrogated and has fought for more than three years to get the information.

Its lawyer Amrit Singh said CIA chiefs should be put on trial for evading releasing the information.

Former terror suspect Binyam Mohamed, who has returned to the UK after being held in Guantanamo Bay detention camp, claimed he was tortured in foreign prisons. Before his four years in Cuba he was held in Morocco and Pakistan.

American government lawyers said some of the details about the interrogations would remain classified. The CIA admitted that two tapes were destroyed but a spokesman denied it gave out misleading information.

"We never said publicly how many tapes from the agency's detention programme were destroyed, so it's wrong for people to claim the figure is higher than before," he said.

"That's just not true. If anyone thinks it's agency policy to impede the enforcement of American law, they simply don't know the facts."

Tapes were a contentious issue during the trial of 9/11 conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui, who was jailed for life his part in the attacks. Prosecutors initially claimed there were no recordings of his interrogation, but later acknowledged video and audio tapes were made.