3.  The applicant was born in 1981 and lives in Diyarbakır. 4.  On 14 March 1999 the police carried out an operation against Hizbullah, an illegal organisation, in Mardin. At around 3 a.m. the police raided a flat after receiving information from a certain A.T., who was allegedly a member of Hizbullah. During the search conducted in the apartment, three weapons with their cartridges and three computer hard discs, among other objects, were found. According to information retrieved from one of these hard discs, the applicant was allegedly involved in Hizbullah and had been giving religious lessons to children in the Kuba mosque in Diyarbakır. 5.  On 5 June 1999 the public prosecutor at the Diyarbakır State Security Court drew up a list of the material seized during the raid in Mardin in order to place it in the custody of the State Security Court. The material included the computer hard discs. 6.  On 18 October 1999 at around 8.30 p.m. the applicant was arrested while leaving the Kuba mosque in Diyarbakır along with four other persons. According to the arrest report, he was arrested as part of the investigation being conducted into Hizbullah. 7.  On 19 October 1999 the security forces conducted a search of the applicant’s house. According to the house search and seizure report signed by three police officers and the applicant’s father, nine books with religious content and four tapes were found in the apartment. 8.  On 25 October 1999 the applicant made statements to the police. According to these submissions, the applicant admitted that he was involved in the activities of Hizbullah. 9.  On 26 October 1999 the applicant was examined by a doctor in a health clinic in Diyarbakır, along with four other suspects. The doctor observed no sign of ill-treatment on the applicant’s person. 10.  On the same day the applicant was brought before the public prosecutor and subsequently a single judge at the Diyarbakır State Security Court and was questioned about his affiliation to Hizbullah. The applicant maintained that he was not a member of Hizbullah and denied that he had given religious lessons on behalf of this organisation. As regards the books found in his apartment, the applicant contended that he had been a student in an İmam Hatip High School[1] and that he had bought them at a book fair. The applicant contended that he had been blindfolded in police custody and forced to sign the document allegedly containing his statements. 11.  On the same day, the judge remanded the applicant in custody. 12.  On 2 November 1999 the public prosecutor at the Diyarbakır State Security Court filed a bill of indictment against six persons, including the applicant, charging them with membership of Hizbullah under Article 168 of the former Criminal Code and Section 5 of Law no. 3713. 13.  On 16 December 1999 the applicant made statements before the first-instance court. He maintained that one of the other accused was his schoolmate and that he did not know the other persons. He stated in this connection that he had no affiliation with Hizbullah. The applicant also denied the accuracy of his police statements, alleging that they had been made under duress. He contended that he had been in the mosque for prayer and that he had not given religious lessons to children there. The applicant lastly submitted that the tapes which had allegedly been found in his apartment did not belong to him. 15.  On 17 January 2000 the police carried out operations against Hizbullah in Istanbul. Security forces raided an apartment where three leaders of Hizbullah lived. One of the leaders was killed and two others were captured. The police also found several hard discs containing information about the organisation. On one of these hard discs a personal history form belonging to the applicant was found. 16.  On 19 October 2000 the Diyarbakır State Security Court ordered the detention of the applicant in absentia. 17.  On 21 July 2001 at 8.15 p.m. the applicant was arrested under the detention order of 19 October 2000 and subsequently detained pending trial. 18.  On 8 November 2001 the public prosecutor at the State Security Court made his submissions on the merits of the case. In respect of the applicant, the public prosecutor submitted that he had been involved in the activities of Hizbullah, had given religious lessons to children in the Kuba mosque and had provided a personal history form to Hizbullah, relying on the information contained in the hard discs found during the police operations of 14 March 1999 and 17 January 2000. 19.  On 23 March 2002 the applicant’s representative submitted the applicant’s reply to the public prosecutor’s submissions of 8 November 2001. He contended, inter alia, that the personal history form contained in the hard disc found in Istanbul could not be relied on in evidence, as there was nothing to prove that the applicant had given this information to Hizbullah. The lawyer further noted that it was not clear how the hard discs had been seized and that transcription of these discs had not been undertaken by experts. He also maintained that the applicant’s statements to the police could not be used as evidence against him as he had not subsequently reiterated these statements before the judicial authorities. 20.  On 16 May 2002 the Diyarbakır State Security Court convicted the applicant of membership of Hizbullah and sentenced him to twelve years and six months’ imprisonment. It noted that, according to the information found in one of the computer hard discs in Mardin, the applicant was giving religious lessons to children and that according to his personal history form found in a hard disc in Istanbul, he was involved in Hizbullah activities in the Aksakal mosque. The court further observed that five persons who had also been accused of membership of Hizbullah had mentioned the applicant in their statements to the police and that books written by the Ayatollah Khomeini, the founder of the Islamic Republic of Iran, had been found in the applicant’s house. The State Security Court lastly noted that the applicant had accepted, in his statements to the police, that he had had an affiliation with Hizbullah. 22.  On an unspecified date the public prosecutor at the Court of Cassation submitted his written opinion (tebliğname) on the merits of the appeal. This opinion was not served on the applicant. 23.  On 17 December 2002 the Court of Cassation upheld the judgment of the Diyarbakır State Security Court.