Brutal CIA prison practices ‘kept secret’

A US Senate report on the CIA’s interrogation and detention practices after the September 11, 2001, terror attacks on the US has concluded that the agency initially kept the secretary of state and some ambassadors uninformed about harsh techniques and secret prisons.

The still-classified report also says some US ambassadors who were informed about interrogations of al Qaeda detainees at so-called black sites in their countries were instructed not to tell their superiors at the State Department, says a document circulating among White House staff, which was accidentally emailed to an Associated Press reporter.

The 6,300-page Senate report on the CIA’s interrogation programme has been years in the making. The findings are expected to reveal additional details about the CIA’s programme and renew criticisms that the US engaged in torture as it questioned terrorism suspects after the 2001 attacks.