the kind referred to in section 21(1) (a) or (b) of the Anti-terrorism, Crime and Security Act 2001. The same rule must be followed in any other judicial process where information of this kind would otherwise be admissible. 122. Support for this approach is to be found in a decision in the case of El Motassadeq of the Hanseatisches Oberlandesgericht (the Hanseatic Court of Appeals, Criminal Division), Hamburg of 14 June 2005, NJW 2005, 2326. El Motassadeq had been charged with conspiracy to cause the attacks of 11 September 2001 on the United States of America and with membership of an illegal organisation. The court had been provided by the US Department of Justice with summaries of statements of three witnesses which, subject to certain safeguards, were admissible under its Code of Criminal Procedure as equivalent to written records of statements by these witnesses. The court was, of course, aware from press articles and other reports that there were indications that suspected Al Qaeda members had been subjected to torture within the meaning of article 1 of the Convention, and it was contended that these statements should be excluded under article 15. Repeated requests to the competent US authorities for information about the circumstances of the examination of these witnesses met with no response, and attempts to obtain this information through the German authorities were blocked on the ground that the information had been given to them for intelligence purposes only and that a breach of the limitations of use would jeopardise the security interests of the Federal Republic of Germany. In this situation the court had no option but to base its assessment of the question whether torture had been used on available, publicly accessible sources. On the one hand the White House denied that it used or condoned torture. On the other hand it had admitted that it did not view Al Qaeda prisoners as coming under the protection of international human rights agreements on the treatment of prisoners of war. This was enough to raise the suspicion that torture had been used. There was a question to answer on this point. 123. The court’s conclusions are to be found in the following paragraphs of the certified translation: “On the whole, the Division does not consider the use of torture within the meaning of Art. 1 of the UN AntiTorture Convention at the examinations of Binalshibh, Sheikh Mohammend and Ould Slahi as proved according to Art. 15 of this Convention. The fact is not ignored here that it is state agents of the United States, a country -68-