Washington/Geneva  - Medical personnel aided in the interrogation of US-held terrorism suspects that amounted to torture, according to a report by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) that was confirmed by the organization Tuesday.

According to the ICRC, medical personnel hired by the CIA observed and in some cases participated in interrogations in secret CIA prisons. The methods used included starving and subjecting inmates to extreme temperatures and a simulated drowning technique known as water-boarding.

That aid, even if it in some cases was intended to avoid serious injury or death to an inmate, amounted to a serious violation of medical ethics, according to the Geneva-based organization's findings.

The new information was based on a confidential 2007 ICRC report, which was released Monday in its entirety on the New York Review of Books website. An ICRC spokesman in Geneva confirmed the report's existence but would not provide any further comment.

The findings are based on interviews with 14 inmates suspected of ties to al-Qaeda, who were held at the CIA prisons before being transported to the notorious US prison camp in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Some details of the report had already been leaked to the media last month. The aid organization, which has had access to Guantanamo Bay and its prisoners, claimed for the first time that the CIA's interrogation techniques amounted to torture.

About 250 prisoners captured after the September 11, 2001, attacks are still being held at the Guantanamo facility, which has been heavily criticized by human rights groups.

US President Barack Obama, in his first week in office in January, promised to close Guantanamo within one year. He also unequivocally said the United States "does not torture." (dpa)