September 11 attacks suspect was detained and taped in Morocco

The US Central Intelligence Agency has videotapes made at a secret prison in Morocco showing the interrogation of a conspirator in the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, CNN reported on Tuesday.

The tapes were reportedly found three years ago under a desk at the CIA's headquarters in Langley, Virginia, and may offer insights into the controversial role that some foreign countries played during former president George W Bush's war against terrorism.

The tapes show Ramzi Bin al-Shibh, who has admitted to helping plot the Sep 11 attacks on New York and Washington, CNN reported, citing a 'knowledgeable US source'. Bin al-Shibh is not being subjected to torture, instead he is shown being interrogated behind a desk. It would mark the only video evidence remaining of the CIA's secret overseas prisons system, which was reportedly used for interrogations of terrorist suspects that human rights groups claim amount to torture.

The CIA had reportedly destroyed other videotapes of its interrogations at the so-called black site prisons, which were used in the first years of Bush's administration.

A federal prosecutor is investigating the 2005 destruction of dozens of videotapes of brutal interrogations of two Qaida detainees. American officials said the tapes of Mr. bin al-Shibh do not depict harsh interrogation techniques. One other suspect apprehended in Pakistan in July 2002, Binyam Mohamed, was transported by American intelligence officers to a Morocco prison, where he spent 18 months.