28
HASSAN v. THE UNITED KINGDOM – JUDGMENT
secondly, in what circumstances Tarek Hassan left Camp Bucca. In
addition, since the applicant alleges that Tarek Hassan’s body had marks of
ill-treatment on it, the question arises whether he was ill-treated while in
detention.
51. As to the first point, the Court notes that the only evidence before it
which supports the claim that Tarek Hassan was taken into detention in an
attempt to force the applicant to surrender himself are the two statements
made by the applicant and the note of a telephone interview with the
applicant’s neighbour, both prepared for the purposes of the domestic
proceedings (see paragraphs 12-13 above). In the applicant’s first statement
he alleged that his sisters had been told by the British military authority that
Tarek Hassan would not be released until the applicant gave himself up. In
the second statement, the applicant claimed that this information was given
to his neighbour and his friend. In neither of the applicant’s statements, nor
that of his neighbour, Mr Al-Ubody, is the representative of the United
Kingdom military who made the alleged assertion identified, by name or
rank. Given the lack of precision, the hearsay nature of this evidence and the
internal inconsistencies in the applicant’s statements, the Court does not
find the evidence in support of the applicant’s claim to be strong.
52. For their part, the Government were not able to present the Court
with any witness evidence relating to Tarek Hassan’s capture. However,
they provided the Court with the operational log of the Black Watch
Battalion which was created contemporaneously with the events in question
(see paragraph 11 above). It records that, when British forces arrived at the
house, Tarek Hassan was positioned on the roof, armed with an AK-47
machine gun and that other firearms and documents of intelligence value
were found in the house. In addition, the Government provided records of
interviews at Camp Bucca with Tarek Hassan and screen shots of entries
relating to him on the AP3-Ryan database (see, respectively,
paragraphs 23-24 and 18, 22 and 28 above). The Court has no grounds on
which to question the authenticity of these records. They show that Tarek
Hassan was registered at Camp Bucca on 23 April 2003, taken to the JFIT
compound at 16.40 on 23 April 2003 and released to the civilian holding
area of Camp Bucca on 25 April 2003 at 8 p.m. local time. The computer
records further show that he was questioned once on 23 April 2003 21.30
local time and again on 25 April at 8 a.m. local time. Records of both
interviews have been provided to the Court. They show that Tarek Hassan’s
identity as the applicant’s brother was known and that it was established in
the course of questioning that he had no personal involvement with the
Ba’ath Party or the Al-Quds Army.
53. In the Court’s view, the capture and questioning records are
consistent with the Government’s submission that Tarek Hassan was
captured as a suspected combatant or a civilian posing a threat to security.
This view is supported by other evidence which tends to show that
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