attacks in Europe—came from statements made by a Jordanian man known as Abu Attiya while detained in Amman. Abu Attiya was not a defendant in the case. A French intelligence report dated November 6, 2002, at the outset of the judicial investigation, stated that Abu Attiya was in charge of preparations in Georgia for chemical attacks in Europe.151 There are references to Abu Attiya in the 305-page first instance verdict from June 2006 and the Appeals Court decision from May 2007. Indeed, the higher court lists Abu Attiya’s statements while in custody in Jordan as one of the principal elements of proof of a plot to commit a chemical attack in France.152 The lawyer for one of the defendants in the Chechen Network trial argued before the Appeals Court that Abu Attiya’s testimony should be excluded given the conditions under which it was obtained and “the absence of details about the sources of the information of the DST [initials of the former French intelligence service].153 Abu Attiya told Human Rights Watch about the mistreatment he suffered during the four years he spent in the custody of the Jordanian General Intelligence Department (GID), before being released without charge in December 2007. He said was subject to sleep deprivation and was given pills and injections that made him nervous and shaky. Abu Attiya claims he never confessed to a plot to commit attacks in Europe; he was not allowed to read his “confession” before he was forced to sign it.154 The GID has a record of arbitrary arrest and abusive treatment of prisoners. Human Rights Watch, among others, has documented the routine use of abusive treatment and torture in GID facilities, including beatings on the soles of the feet (sometimes followed by the “salt and vinegar walk,” where detainees are forced to walk in puddles of this mixture in their bare, bleeding feet), beatings with electrical cables, and being forced to stand or sit in uncomfortable positions for hours on end.155 In research on torture in Jordan’s prisons, 151 “Menace terroriste émanant d’un group de moudjahidin ayant combattu en Tchétchénie, susceptible de constituer l’infraction d’association de malfaiteurs ayant pour objet de préparer des actes de terrorisme," DST report from Louis Caprioli, deputy director of the DST, November 6, 2002, p. 12. On file with Human Rights Watch. French court documents refer to him as Abou Attiya. 152 Cour d’Appel de Paris, Arrêt du 22 mai 2007, Dossier No. 06/05712, p. 100. On file with Human Rights Watch. 153 Ibid., p. 81. 154 Human Rights Watch interview with Adnan Muhammad Sadiq Abu Najila (Abu Attiya), Swaqa, Jordan, August 21, 2007. 155 See Human Rights Watch, Suspicious Sweeps: the General Intelligence Department and Jordan’s Rule of Law Problem, vol. 18, no. 6(E), September 2006, http://www.hrw.org/reports/2006/jordan0906/jordan0906web.pdf; and Human Rights Watch, Double Jeopardy: CIA Renditions to Jordan, ISBN: 1-56432-300-5, April 2008, http://hrw.org/reports/2008/jordan0408. 53 Human Rights Watch | June 2010