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Bush bans terror suspect torture Bush bans terror suspect torture
(about 2 hours later)
US President George W Bush has signed an executive order on how terrorist suspects should be treated. US President George W Bush has signed an executive order banning "cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment" of terror suspects.
It bans cruel and inhumane treatment of any suspects detained and interrogated by the US authorities, and describes acts of torture as intolerable. It says torture and personal abuse - including sexual acts and attacks on religious beliefs - are intolerable.
These include sexual acts or attacks on the detainee's religious beliefs. CIA Director Michael Hayden said the order gave the agency the legal clarity it had been seeking.
However, the White House would not reveal if all controversial interrogation procedures would be barred under the new guidelines. The administration has faced pressure at home and abroad over interrogation techniques used on suspected militants.
The US has been criticised by human rights groups over interrogation techniques such as "waterboarding", in which prisoners are strapped to a plank over water and made to fear that they will drown. The most controversial practice allegedly used by the CIA is "water boarding" - in which prisoners are strapped to a plank over water and made to fear that they will drown.
Critics have also complained that the CIA has run secret prisons and has flown prisoners to third countries for torture. The American authorities have never confirmed they use the technique and it is unclear whether the guidelines allow it.
The White House declined to say whether the CIA currently had a detention and interrogation programme, but said that if it did, it had to adhere to the guidelines outlined in the executive order so CIA officers were not put in legal jeopardy. Protection
The White House declined to say whether the CIA currently had a detention and interrogation programme.
But it said that if it did, the agency had to adhere to the guidelines.
Mr Hayden said the executive order gave CIA officers "the assurance that they may conduct their essential work in keeping with the laws of the United States".
Military lawyers say the main point of the orders is to offer protection to CIA officers who might get sued in US courts if they were deemed to have abused prisoners.
But the BBC's Duncan Kennedy in Washington says critics are likely to argue the new rules are still vague and give the administration far too much scope for using what they regard as unacceptable techniques.