OTHMAN (ABU QATADA) v. THE UNITED KINGDOM JUDGMENT 37 recalled that during their time in detention they met only with GID staff, except for when they were brought before the prosecutor to be charged. However, several detainees made clear that they were unable with certainty to distinguish between GID officers and officers from the prosecutor’s office, since all wear civilian clothes, conduct interrogations in a similar fashion, and are located in close proximity. The prosecutor is also the legal authority for detainees’ complaints regarding cruel or inhuman treatment or torture. Jordanian law requires any official, including GID officers, to accept and transmit complaints to their superiors. The role of the prosecutor includes investigating complaints that allege a breach of the law. The fundamental lack of independence of the prosecutor within the GID and SCC structures renders this role wholly ineffective. Samih Khrais, a lawyer who has defended tens of clients before the State Security Court, told Human Rights Watch: ‘The prosecutor will send a detainee back to the cell if he says he confessed under torture.’ Khrais said that because of the prosecutor’s role in the process before the SCC, and the rules that make statements obtained under torture inadmissible in court, the SCC prosecutors are disinclined to act on any complaints of torture. One detainee, Mustafa R., who said he was tortured both before and after being charged, told Human Rights Watch that when he was brought before the prosecutor to be charged he was alone with the prosecutor in his office in the GID complex while a car with his interrogators waited outside to take him back to his cell. The prosecutor did not make any inquiry as to whether illegal force or coercion were used against Mustafa R. during his interrogation. Another former detainee, Muhammad al-Barqawi, told Human Rights Watch that if a detainee demands a lawyer or alleges torture, the prosecutor sends the detainee back for more interrogation, saying ‘He’s not ready yet.’” 117. In its report of 8 October 2008, “Torture and Impunity in Jordan’s Prisons”, which was based on prisons visits it had carried out in 2007 and 2008, Human Rights Watch concluded that torture remained widespread and routine in Jordan’s prisons. The organisation received allegations of ill-treatment from 66 of the 110 prisoners it interviewed. It also concluded that prison guards tortured inmates because prosecutors and judges did little to pursue them. The report noted that willingness of the Jordanian Government to grant access to prisons was commendable and reflected a positive commitment to reform. However, the report also noted that the public concern of Jordanian leadership had not shown lasting effects on the ground. Torture was inflicted routinely when prisoners broke prison rules, made requests for doctors, telephone calls or visits, or make complaints. Islamist prisoners faced greater abuse than others. Complaints of torture had decreased but remained a common occurrence. Torture was not a general policy, although high-ranking prison officials had ordered beatings. Torture was a “tolerated practice” because mechanisms for individual accountability were lacking; the Government had quietly taken some initial steps to provide greater opportunities for redress, but had not vigorously pursued them. 118. In the section of its World Report of 2010 on Jordan, Human Rights Watch also commented that further positive reforms such as the NCHR anti-torture training programmes, were far from sufficient