4 OTHMAN (ABU QATADA) v. THE UNITED KINGDOM JUDGMENT monitoring security threats in Jordan with the Public Security Directorate and the military. At the end of the period of interrogation during which they claimed to have been tortured, the Public Prosecutor took a statement from each defendant. 14. At the trial there was evidence from lawyers and medical examiners and relatives of the defendants that there were visible signs of torture on the defendants. However, the State Security Court concluded that the defendants could not prove torture. 15. There were a number of appeals to the Court of Cassation and remittals back to the State Security Court, although, as the applicant had been convicted in absentia, no appeals were taken on his behalf. In the course of those appeals, the convictions were upheld on the basis that the relevant statements had been made to the Public Prosecutor. The confessions in those statements thus constituted sufficient evidence for conviction if the court accepted them and if the Public Prosecutor was satisfied with the confessions. The Court of Cassation rejected the claim that the Public Prosecutor had to prove that the defendants had confessed to him of their own accord: the Public Prosecutor’s obligation to prove that a confession was obtained willingly only arose where the confession had not been obtained by him. The confessions in question were authentic and there was no evidence that they had been made under financial or moral coercion. 16. The Court of Cassation then considered the impact of the allegations that the confessions to the State Prosecutor had resulted from coercion of the defendants and their families while they were in GID detention. Such conduct during an investigation was against Jordanian law and rendered the perpetrators liable to punishment. However, even assuming that the defendants’ allegations were true, that would not nullify the confessions made to the Public Prosecutor unless it were proved that those confessions were the consequence of illegal coercion to force the defendants to confess to things which they had not done. The defendants had not shown that was the case. 17. As a result of the applicant’s conviction in this trial, the Jordanian authorities requested the applicant’s extradition from the United Kingdom. In early 2000, the request was withdrawn by Jordan. 2. The millennium conspiracy trial 18. In the autumn of 2000 the applicant was again tried in absentia in Jordan, this time in a case known as the “millennium conspiracy”, which concerned a conspiracy to cause explosions at western and Israeli targets in Jordan to coincide with the millennium celebrations. The conspiracy was uncovered before the attacks could be carried out. The applicant was alleged to have provided money for a computer and encouragement through his writings, which had been found at the house of a co-defendant,