U.S. Launches Criminal Probe into Detainee Deaths in CIA Custody

The U.S. Justice Department on Thursday launched a criminal investigation into the deaths of two detainee deaths in CIA custody, as it dropped probes into the vast majority of alleged CIA interrogation abuses.

Attorney General Eric Holder did not identify the two detainees who died in CIA custody in the wake of the September 11, 2001 attacks by al-Qaida on New York and Washington.

An unnamed U.S. official told CNN however that one of the detainees was Manadel al-Jamadi, who died in November 2003 while prisoner at Iraq's notorious Abu Ghraib prison.

A secret U.S. federal grand jury is already looking into the role of CIA agents in that case, Time magazine reported earlier this month.

Al-Jamadi had become known as "the Iceman" when his CIA handlers placed his body in ice to slow decomposition in a failed attempt to hide the death.

Prosecutor John Durham has started calling witnesses, including U.S. military personnel who served at Abu Ghraib, before the grand jury investigating the case, the magazine reported.

Durham spokesman Tom Carson told Agence France Presse at the time that it was "an ongoing investigation."

In almost 100 other cases, however, Holder said Thursday in a statement that his department had determined "an expanded criminal investigation of the remaining matters is not warranted.

Holder had directed Assistant U.S. Attorney Durham two years ago to review the CIA interrogations of 101 detainees at secret sites overseas to determine whether any laws were broken.

"Durham and his team reviewed a tremendous volume of information pertaining to the detainees... I have accepted his recommendation to conduct a full criminal investigation regarding the death in custody of two individuals," Holder said.

CIA chief Leon Panetta praised the decision as he left the spy agency to take over the helm of the Pentagon from outgoing Defense Secretary Robert Gates.

"On this, my last day as director, I welcome the news that the broader inquiries are behind us. We are now finally about to close this chapter of our agency's history," Panetta said.

Mike Rogers, the Republican chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, also welcomed the move, saying that Holder's decision "is a significant step forward."

He added in a statement that he was "pleased" the Department of Justice "finally substantially lifted an undeserved cloud of doubt and suspicion from all of our intelligence professionals."

"Many good people were vindicated today," he said.

The investigation had been criticized from all corners when it was launched in 2009.

Rights groups argued the review did not go far enough, alleging that controversial "enhanced" interrogation techniques were widespread under the previous administration of President George W. Bush.

Members of Bush's team and Republican officials had slammed the probe, with former U.S. vice president Dick Cheney declaring the effort an "outrageous political act."

Durham's investigation was limited to examining whether there was sufficient evidence to charge individual agents with violating the special interrogation rules they were given after 9/11.

The review examined "primarily whether any unauthorized interrogation techniques were used by CIA interrogators," and if so, whether the techniques constituted "violations of the torture statute or any other applicable statute," noted Holder.

President Barack Obama had previously made clear that CIA interrogators, who acted on the basis of legal guidelines drawn up by the Bush administration, would not face the full extent of the law.