United States' Obama refuses to stop torture investigations

Sep 20, 2009, 14:55 GMT

Washington - US President Barack Obama rejected on Sunday a request by several former heads of the country's intelligence community to end investigations into the alleged torture of terrorist suspects.

Speaking to US broadcaster CNN, Obama said in rejecting the request that no one was above the law.

In addition the US president said that it was not entitled to interfere in an active investigation by justice officials.

The statement came in reference to a letter by seven former heads of the US Central Intelligence Agency to end inquiries into alleged abuse of terrorist suspects allowed under the administration of Obama predecessor George W Bush.

According to the CIA former chiefs, the investigation threatened to interfere with the effective anti-terrorism efforts by the agency and damage the security of the country.

Among the signatories of the letter, were Michael Hayden and George Tenet, who served under Bush.