30 OTHMAN (ABU QATADA) v. THE UNITED KINGDOM JUDGMENT crime scene) and expert evidence. The evidence of the other defendants was likely to be determinative at the applicant’s retrial, as they were important in his trials in absentia. The report also stated that, if alive, Al-Hamasher and Abu Hawsher would give evidence at any retrial. 2. Evidence provided by the applicant 102. For the Reform and Challenge trial, the applicant provided a copy of the Public Prosecutor’s investigation report, which showed that the only evidence against him was the confession of Al-Hamasher. The confession was quoted in the report as stating that the applicant had provided encouragement for the attacks and congratulated the group afterwards. The only other evidence against him which was recorded in the report was that two books the applicant had written were found in the possession of Al-Hamasher and another defendant. The applicant also provided the grounds of appeal of Al-Hamasher which set out his claim that he had been detained and ill-treated for six days in GID custody then brought before the Public Prosecutor in the latter’s office at the GID building. The applicant also produced a letter from the GID to Al-Hamasher’s lawyer which stated that the original videotapes of his interrogation had been destroyed. The grounds of appeal stated that, at trial, a GID officer gave evidence that he had destroyed the tapes on the orders of his superior but refused to reveal the superior’s identity. Al-Hamasher’s grounds of appeal also stated that lawyers for another defendant had witnessed their client telling the Public Prosecutor that he had been ill-treated: the lawyers’ evidence had not been accepted by the State Security Court, which preferred that of the Public Prosecutor. The grounds of appeal also summarised a medical report by a doctor who had examined the defendants five months after their interrogations. The doctor had found bruising and scarring on the men’s bodies, particularly their feet and legs. Given the passage of time, the doctor was unable to conclude how the men’s injuries had been obtained but observed that they could have been caused by the impact of hard objects. In Al-Hamasher’s case, the doctor noted scars on his buttocks, which were consistent with being deliberately hit with a baton or similar object. The grounds of appeal also noted that family members of the defendants, including Al-Hamasher’s mother, had observed scars on the defendants’ feet and legs when they were first allowed to visit them. The GID interrogators were not produced for cross-examination at trial, nor were the defendants’ medical records. 103. For the millennium conspiracy trial, the applicant submitted a copy of the Public Prosecutor’s investigation report in that case, which showed that Abu Hawsher’s confession was the predominant basis of the prosecution case against the applicant. A copy of his defence statement setting out his allegations of torture was also provided, which described injuries to the soles of his feet (causing the skin to fall off when he bathed),