Demonstrators against CIA torture arrested outside home of Dick Cheney

Two protesters demonstrating against the use of torture by the US during the "War on Terror" have been arrested outside the home of former vice president Dick Cheney.

The pair, one of whom was an 83-year-old woman, were part of a group of about 20 activists from the anti-war group Code Pink and Witness Against Torture.

The protesters had trespassed inside Cheney's fenced property in a McLean, Virginia, said a police spokesman.

When asked by police to leave, two refused to do so and were arrested, Fairfax County police spokesman Roger Henriquez said.

Tighe Barry, 57, and Eve Tetaz, 83, were arrested, then released within an hour, pending a court appearance, said police.

The pair face charges of trespassing and disorderly conduct.

Code Pink disputed the police account.

"The police asked us to move to the street, so we did. And they arbitrarily arrested two of us," group co-founder Medea Benjamin told CNN.

The group, which is calling for the closure of the Guantanamo Bay prison camp 14 years after it was opened, also gathered at the home of CIA director John Brennan, and headquarters of the CIA at Langley, Virginia, before protesting at Cheney's home on what they called a "torturer's tour".

"It's ironic and ridiculous that while the men responsible for torture are out running free and profiting from years of failed wars – Dick Cheney has profited grossly off the Iraq War – police were out arresting peaceful protesters who are calling for a new foreign policy based on diplomacy and compassion," the group's national director Ali McCracken said.

Last month, a US Senate committee found that the CIA deceived the White House and public, and extensively abused detainees suspected of involvement in terrorism.

In subsequent interviews Cheney defended the introduction of the use of torture on detainees in the years following 9/11, saying "I would do it again in a minute."