OTHMAN (ABU QATADA) v. THE UNITED KINGDOM JUDGMENT 5 Mr Abu Hawsher. The applicant maintains that the main evidence against him was the testimony of Abu Hawsher. 19. Most of the defendants were convicted on most charges; some were fully or partly acquitted. The applicant was convicted and sentenced to 15 years’ imprisonment with hard labour. Other defendants, including Abu Hawsher, were sentenced to death. On appeal certain of the defendants, including, it appears, Abu Hawsher, claimed to have been tortured during 50 days of interrogation when they were denied access to lawyers. The Court of Cassation rejected this ground of appeal, holding that the minutes of interrogation showed that each defendant had been told of his right to remain silent about the charges unless their lawyer was present. The applicant also states that the Court of Cassation found that the alleged illtreatment in GID custody was irrelevant because the State Security Court did not rely on the defendants’ confessions to the GID but their confessions to the Public Prosecutor. Abu Hawsher remains under sentence of death. 20. The findings of the United Kingdom Special Immigration Appeals Commission (SIAC) in respect of the evidence presented at each trial are set out at paragraph 45 below. The further evidence which has become available since SIAC’s findings, and which has been submitted to this Court, is summarised as paragraphs 94–105 below. C. The agreement of a memorandum of understanding (MOU) between the United Kingdom and Jordan 21. In October 2001, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office advised the United Kingdom Government that Article 3 of the Convention precluded the deportation of terrorist suspects to Jordan. In March 2003, after a Government review of the possibility of removing such barriers to removal, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office confirmed that its advice of October 2001 remained extant but that it was considering whether key countries would be willing and able to provide the appropriate assurances to guarantee that potential deportees would be treated in a manner consistent with the United Kingdom’s obligations. In May 2003, the Foreign Secretary agreed that seeking specific and credible assurances from foreign governments, in the form of memoranda of understanding, might be a way of enabling deportation from the United Kingdom. 22. In November 2003, the British Embassy in Amman was instructed to raise the idea of a framework memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the Jordanian Government. In February 2005, after meetings between the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and the King of Jordan, and between the Secretary of State for the Home Department and the Jordanian Foreign Minister, agreement was reached on the principle of an MOU. 23. Further negotiations took place in June 2005 and an MOU was signed on 10 August 2005. That MOU set out a series of assurances of