Judge orders CIA-tapes hearing

2007-12-18 19:38

Washington - A federal judge has ordered a hearing on whether the Bush administration violated a court order by destroying videotapes of CIA interrogators questioning suspected terrorists.

US District Judge Henry H. Kennedy rejected pleas by the US Justice Department to stay out of the matter. He ordered lawyers to appear before him on Friday.

In June 2005, Kennedy ordered the administration to safeguard "all evidence and information regarding the torture, mistreatment and abuse of detainees now at the US Naval Base at Guantanamo Bay."

Five months later, the CIA destroyed the interrogation videos. The recordings involved suspected terrorists Abu Zubaydah and Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri. The Justice Department argued that the videos were not covered by the order because the two men were being held in secret CIA prisons overseas, not at the Guantanamo Bay prison.

- AP