Report on CIA details 'brutal' post-9/11 interrogations

The CIA carried out "brutal" interrogations of al-Qaeda suspects in the years after the 9/11 attacks on the US, a US Senate report has said, according to the BBC.

The summary of the report, compiled by Democrats on the Senate Intelligence Committee, said the CIA had misled Americans about what it was doing.

The information the CIA collected this way failed to secure information that foiled any threats, the report said.

In a statement, the CIA insisted the interrogations had helped save lives.

"The intelligence gained from the programme was critical to our understanding of al-Qaeda and continues to inform our counterterrorism efforts to this day," director John Brennan said.

However, the CIA also acknowledged mistakes in the programme, especially early on when it was unprepared for the scale of the operation to detain and interrogate prisoners.

The CIA programme - known internally as Rendition, Detention and Interrogation - took place from 2002-07, during the presidency of George W Bush.

The report reveals that:

Detainees were subjected to repeated waterboarding, slapping, stress positions and sleep deprivation

Saudi al-Qaeda suspect Abu Zubaydah was kept confined in a coffin-sized box for hours on end

Suspects were threatened with severe harm - psychologically and physically