accused in the press of using torture, who deny the Division access to sources from which might be expected comparatively more reliable and, in particular, verifiable information than that in the available press articles and reports of humanitarian organisations. However, a significant circumstance added to the inadequate evidence situation in this case is the fact that the forwarded summaries of the examinations of Binalshibh, Sheikh Mohammed and Ould Slahi do not exhibit the onesidedness of a universal incrimination of persons not in custody, which might be expected if torture had been used to extract information incriminating only certain suspected persons. … To the certainly weak evidence for assuming the use of torture is added the fact that the contents of the summaries of statements by Binalshibh, Sheikh Mohammed and Ould Slahi tend to indicate torture not having been used. It is only because of this that the Division has decided here not to consider it proved that Art. 15 of the UN Anti-Torture Convention was violated in a way that would have justified a prohibition of evidence utilisation and would also have precluded the hearing of evidence by the reading of evidence material.” In a concluding paragraph the court said that it was mindful of the problems posed by the possible use of torture and would take this into consideration when assessing the information in the summaries, adding: “This does not imply legitimisation of the use of torture, even in view of the enormous scale of the attacks of 11 September 2001.” 124. The significant points that I would draw from that case are these. The court was careful to distinguish between the generalised allegations of torture which were to be found in the press articles and other materials – sufficient, it might well be said, to raise a suspicion of torture – and the position of these three witnesses in particular. What it was looking for was evidence which established that the statements of these three witnesses in particular had been obtained under torture. The test which it was asked to apply was that laid down by the article. The evidence for assuming that torture had been used was said to be weak, and the contents of the statements tended to show that torture had not been used. The court did not go so far as to say that it was unable to conclude that there was not a real risk that the evidence had been obtained by torture. It was left in a state of doubt on this point. If it had -69-

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