OTHMAN (ABU QATADA) v. THE UNITED KINGDOM JUDGMENT 17 may lawfully be deported to face a trial that may involve evidence obtained by torture.” 52. The Court of Appeal noted that SIAC had reached its conclusion that there would not be a complete denial of justice in relation to the use of evidence obtained by torture by relying on the process, admittedly not wholly satisfactory, before the State Security Court and the Court of Cassation. For the Court of Appeal that conclusion sat very ill with SIAC’s own findings about the State Security Court process, in particular SIAC’s own concern as to the difficulties in proving that evidence had been obtained by torture. In the opinion of the Court of Appeal, SIAC’s concern was “amply justified by the litany of lack of the basic protections against prior ill-treatment” in Jordan. It also criticised SIAC’s “disturbing failure” to give proper weight to the findings as to the defects in the State Security Court. The Court of Appeal concluded: “It was not open to SIAC to conclude on that evidence that the risk of the total denial of justice that is represented by the use of evidence obtained by torture had been adequately excluded. SIAC could not have so concluded if it had properly understood the status in Convention law of this aspect of article 6.” 3. Proceedings before the House of Lords 53. The Secretary of State appealed to the House of Lords in relation to the Court of Appeal’s conclusion on Article 6. The applicant cross-appealed in relation to his other Convention complaints. The appeal was heard with the appeals of two of the appellants in MT (Algeria), RB and U (see paragraph 48 above). In the conjoined appeals the House of Lords was therefore able to consider the use of closed material before SIAC, the reliance on the assurances contained in the MOU and the applicant’s Articles 5 and 6 complaints. The House of Lords gave judgment on 18 February 2009 unanimously allowing the Government’s appeal and dismissing the applicant’s cross-appeal ([2009] UKHL 10). (a) Article 3: the “closed” proceedings before SIAC 54. Lord Phillips held that SIAC was lawfully entitled to consider closed material in evaluating safety on return and there were cogent considerations of policy for doing so. A distinction had to be drawn between closed material on safety on return and the use of closed material in other proceedings, for example to establish the national security threat posed by an individual. For the former, the individual would normally be aware of the nature of any risk on return and, in any event, it was for the individual himself, and not the State, to make out his case on whether he would be at risk on return. It was not likely to be critically important for a special advocate to be able to obtain input from the person to be deported in relation to closed evidence. As regards the impracticality of obtaining an appropriate