President Obama moved yesterday to restore America’s image abroad by ordering the closure of the CIA’s network of foreign “ghost” prisons, the shutting of Guantánamo Bay within a year and a ban on the use of torture and harsh interrogation techniques.

Mr Obama also ordered a review of the CIA’s controversial use of extraordinary rendition, in which terror suspects are kidnapped and sent to foreign countries for interrogation, often in states with poor human rights records.

Mr Obama signed four executive orders, before the cameras, that triggered a fundamental reversal of the way that George Bush sought to detain and prosecute terror suspects, policies that were decried by human rights groups and foreign governments as an affront to American values and the Geneva Conventions.

The centrepiece of his second day in office was the order to close the controversial jail at the US military base in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, perhaps the biggest symbol of the Bush Administration’s extra-judicial actions in prosecuting the War on Terror. “The message that we are sending the world is that the United States intends to prosecute the ongoing struggle against violence and terrorism . . . in a manner that is consistent with our values and ideals,” Mr Obama said.

In addition to the order to shut Guantánamo, Mr Obama declared that all US personnel, including the CIA, must follow the US Army Field Manual while interrogating detainees. The manual explicitly prohibits threats, coercion, physical abuse and waterboarding, a technique that creates the sensation of drowning.

“I can say without hesitation or equivocation that the United States will not torture,” Mr Obama said later at the State Department in announcing the appointment of two special envoys: Richard Holbrooke, a former UN Ambassador, as envoy for Pakistan and Afghanistan, and George Mitchell — a former peace negotiator in Ireland — for the Middle East,

In his first comment on the conflict in the Middle East, Mr Obama called on Israel yesterday to re-open the Gaza border crossings, paving the way for a lasting ceasefire. “Just as the terror of rocket fire aimed at innocent Israelis is intolerable, so, too, is a future without hope for the Palestinians,” he said.

Although Mr Obama’s break with his predecessor’s policies on interrogation and detention were welcomed by Democrats and human rights organisations, it was also a move laden with political and logistical risk.

Shutting Guantánamo Bay will not be easy. Of the 245 inmates remaining, there is still a hard core of men deemed to be genuine terrorists. Mr Obama ordered the creation of a committee to report back within one month on how to deal with the remaining detainees, including Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the self-proclaimed mastermind of 9/11.

The detainees will be divided into three categories: those that can be sent back to their home countries, others who can face trial on US soil, and detainees such as Mohammed that “we cannot transfer to other countries . . . but we cannot try because of various problems related to evidence”, Mr Obama said. Much of the evidence against Mohammed and others was obtained through torture.

One idea is to rehouse many of them in a military jail at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, and on a naval ship in North Carolina. “Absolutely opposed,” said Sam Brownback, a Republican senator from Kansas. “The community is opposed. The base is opposed.” Democrats and Republicans from North Carolina are also mobilising opposition.

Mr Obama must persuade Western allies, including Britain, to take many of the detainees. Germany, Portugal and Switzerland have stated publicly a willingness to help. Downing Street indicated last month that it would look again at the issue but any move to receive Guantánamo inmates will face stiff public opposition.

Some relatives of the victims of the September 11 attacks protested. Donald Arias, who lost a brother in the attacks on the World Trade Centre, accused Mr Obama of “offering up the lives of almost 3,000 American on the altar of political correctness”.

Senior aides to Mr Obama conceded that intelligence officials in the CIA had expressed serious concerns about the new restrictions on interrogation methods. Dick Cheney said last week that American lives “have been saved” by intelligence gleaned through harsh interrogations.

Q&A

Barack Obama has ordered the Guantánamo Bay prison to be closed within a year. Why?

He pledged throughout his presidential campaign to close the detention facility. This is a big declaration of intent to the rest of the world that he is making a clear break from the Bush Administration's most controversial national security policies

Why is the prison camp so controversial?

The jail, on the US naval base in Cuba, received its first terror suspects in January 2002, soon after the September 11 attacks and the fall of the Taleban in Afghanistan. The Bush Administration described the inmates as “the worst of the worst”. Since then it has held more than 800 but only 21 suspects have been charged. Myriad reports of torture and mistreatment have emerged. It still holds 248 detainees — and more than 220 of those have spent years there without charge. More than 500 have been released without charge — after years of incarceration — including a dozen British citizens or residents. The camp has turned into an international symbol of human rights abuse that many believe has diminished America's reputation abroad

Can President Obama really close it in a year?

It will be difficult. Shutting the jail is fraught with logistical and political risks. He has to persuade allies, including Britain, to take many of the prisoners. There is a hard core of dangerous inmates, including Khalid Sheikh Mohammed — the self-confessed September 11 mastermind — to deal with. Much of the evidence against this group is tainted because it was obtained through torture or harsh interrogation. If they cannot face trial, keeping them detained indefinitely — even on the US mainland — will draw criticism

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