The England and Wales Court of Appeal [official website] ruled [judgment text] in May that state intelligence agencies cannot use secret evidence [JURIST report] in their defense against abuse accusations by Mohamed and several other UK residents who were held at Guantanamo Bay. The judgment overturned a November ruling [judgment text; JURIST report] of a UK high court, which held that defendants MI5 and MI6 could utilize a "closed material procedure" that would allow them to rely on certain evidence without disclosing it to opposing counsel or committing it to the public record. The procedure, typically employed in criminal proceedings, is designed to allow concealment of evidence where disclosure would cause "real harm to the public interest," harm the agencies argued would result if they were compelled to publicly adduce state intelligence as part of their defense.