NEW YORK, Feb 3: A US federal judge on Wednesday ordered the CIA to release records regarding the treatment of prisoners detained in the war on terror to civil rights groups.

District Judge Alvin Hellerstein's ruling rejected a CIA request that he suspend a similar order made in September for the documents to be handed over to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).

The CIA had challenged the original ruling by citing a provision in the Freedom of Information Act, allowing the spy agency to hold on to files still considered "operational."

Hellerstein ruled that the CIA had "failed to satisfy the statutory prerequisites" for invoking the operational files exemption and was therefore bound to hand over the records as required by his decision. The ACLU had requested the records in October 2003 but was turned down by the intelligence agency. -AFP