[JURIST] US Central Intelligence Agency [official website; JURIST news archive] officers concerned about being prosecuted [JURIST report] for illegal interrogation tactics refused to carry out interrogations of terror suspects, contributing to pressure on the Bush administration to empty its secret prisons and transfer top terrorism suspects to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba [JURIST news archive], according to a report in the Financial Times. While US officials have formally denied this, former CIA officials and others associated with the secret prisons program who spoke to the Times said the concerns helped to bring the program to an end perhaps sooner than intended.

The White House [official website] has been heavily criticized [JURIST report] for its secret prison system [JURIST report], which President Bush acknowledged earlier this month. The president has been battling with Senate Republicans over detainee rights [JURIST report] since Bush proposed legislation that some say would violate international laws designed to protect prisoners in wartime. Reuters has more.