The US would be in breach of international law if it does not prosecute CIA officials for torturing alleged terrorists, the United Nations' monitor on torture Manfred Nowak said in a newspaper interview published Saturday in Austria. The UN Special Rapporteur on torture was reacting to the announcement by US President Barack Obama that CIA operatives who used harsh interrogation tactics authorized by the Bush administration should not be held responsible.

"Like all other contracting states to the UN convention against torture, the US has committed to conduct criminal investigations of torture and to bring all persons to court against whom there is sound evidence," the Austrian human rights expert was quoted as saying by the daily Der Standard.

Nowak said he did not think the president would not go so far as to issue an amnesty law for CIA operatives. Therefore US courts could still try torture suspects. Obama said that CIA operatives were following the legal advice of the Bush-era Justice Department, and that "nothing will be gained by spending our time and energy laying blame for the past."

Before bringing alleged torturers to court and compensating their victims, it was important that an independent entity investigate the matter, Nowak said.The CIA has previously acknowledged submitting three terrorism suspects to a simulated drowning technique called waterboarding, including Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the alleged mastermind of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.