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Taliban ‘already murdering Afghans linked to foreign military' days after chilling warning over MoD ‘kill list' leak

Taliban ‘already murdering Afghans linked to foreign military' days after chilling warning over MoD ‘kill list' leak

Scottish Sun19-07-2025
A number of named individuals have been killed since the leak
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THE TALIBAN are reportedly already murdering Afghans linked to foreign militaries - days after a huge MoD data leak.
Fears have been growing over the safety of more than 18,000 Afghans whose details were included on the secret list.
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The Taliban regained control of Afghanistan in August 2021
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Details of almost 20,000 refugees fleeing the Taliban were leaked after a top secret email was sent to the wrong person
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A number of named individuals have already been assassinated
Credit: AFP
A number of named individuals have been assassinated since the leak with one man shot four times in the chest at close range on Monday one of three assassinations in the past week according to the Mail.
It comes after the Taliban sent a chilling warning that it will hunt down thousands of Afghan refugees on a "kill list" after the UK's huge data breach.
Details of almost 20,000 refugees fleeing the Taliban were leaked after a Royal Marine mistakenly sent a top secret email to the wrong people.
Since then panic has been spreading as up to 100,000 could face deadly repercussions from ruthless Taliban rulers who hunt down and kill anyone who helped the UK forces.
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But sources have insisted it was impossible to prove conclusively whether it was a direct result of the data breach.
Afghans were informed on Tuesday that their personal details had been lost including names, phone numbers and their family's details as well as other details that could help the Taliban hunt them down.
It is not yet known whether the Taliban is in possession of the database.
It includes names of Afghans as well as the names of their individual UK sponsors including SAS and MI6 spies and at least one Royal Marine Major General.
One Afghan soldier who fled to Britain in fear of retribution, believes his brother was shot in the street this week because the Taliban believed he was affiliated to the UK.
"If or when the Taliban have this list, then killings will increase – and it will be Britain's fault," he said.
Taliban warns thousands of Afghans secretly airlifted to UK 'we will HUNT you down'
"There will be many more executions like the one on Monday."
He is convinced his sibling was executed because of his own association with Afghan special forces, known as the Triples.
He believes that the Taliban sought revenge on his family instead as news of his brother's murder reached him in Britain within an hour of the execution.
A day later, Taliban fighters dragged a woman from her home and beat her in the street.
A former British military interpreter who witnessed the attack claimed it was because the woman's husband "worked for the West" and is now hiding in Iran.
Taliban officials have claimed the details of all the refugees have been known to them since 2022, after they allegedly sourced the information from the internet.
A dossier listing more than 300 murders includes those who worked with the UK and some who had applied for the UK's Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy (ARAP) scheme.
This includes senior Afghan intelligence officer, Colonel Shafiq Ahmad Khan, a 61-year-old grandfather who had worked alongside British forces.
He was shot in the heart on his doorstep in May 2022.
There has been fury this week over the data breach's deadly implications with one angry former interpreter saying: "We risked our lives for the UK standing beside them day after day, now they are risking our lives again."
The epic MoD blunder was kept Top Secret for almost three years by a legal super injunction.
And the government is still battling the courts to keep details behind the Afghan data leak secret.
Thousands of the refugees had to be secretly relocated to the UK and it is set to cost Britain up to £7 billion.
A total of 18,714 Afghans were included on the secret list, many of whom arrived via unmarked planes which landed at Stansted airport.
Many of the Afghans who were flown into the country as part of Operation Rubific were initially housed at MoD homes or hotels until permanent accommodation was found.
Only around 10 to 15 per cent of the individuals on the list would have qualified for relocation under the emergency Afghan Relocation and Assistance Programme, known as ARAP, opened as Kabul fell to the Taliban.
But the leak means many more now have a valid claim for assistance and relocation.
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Trump's trip to Scotland reopens old wounds for some of his neighbors
Trump's trip to Scotland reopens old wounds for some of his neighbors

The Herald Scotland

timean hour ago

  • The Herald Scotland

Trump's trip to Scotland reopens old wounds for some of his neighbors

For nearly 20 years, Forbes and several other families who live in Balmedie have resisted what they describe as bullying efforts by Trump to buy their land. (He has denied the allegations.) They and others also say he's failed to deliver on his promises to bring thousands of jobs to the area. Those old wounds are being reopened as Trump returns to Scotland for a four-day visit beginning July 25. It's the country where his mother was born. He appears to have great affection for it. Trump is visiting his golf resorts at Turnberry, on the west coast about 50 miles from Glasgow, and at Balmedie, where Forbes' 23 acres of jumbled, tractor-strewn land, which he shares with roaming chickens and three Highland cows, abut Trump's glossy and manicured golf resort. On July 28, Trump will briefly meet in Balmedie with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer to "refine" a recent U.S.-U.K. trade deal, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said. Golf, a little diplomacy: Trump heads to Scotland In Scotland, where estimates from the National Library of Scotland suggest that as many as 34 out of the 45 American presidents have Scottish ancestry, opinions hew toward the he's-ill-suited-for-the-job, according to surveys. "Trump? He just doesn't know how to treat people," said Forbes, who refuses to sell. What Trump's teed up in Scotland Part of the Balmedie community's grievances relate to Trump's failure to deliver on his promises. According to planning documents, public accounts and his own statements, Trump promised, beginning in 2006, to inject $1.5 billion into his golf project six miles north of Aberdeen. He has spent about $120 million. Approval for the development, he vowed, came with more than 1,000 permanent jobs and 5,000 construction gigs attached. Instead, there were 84, meaning fewer than the 100 jobs that already existed when the land he bought was a shooting range. Instead of a 450-room luxury hotel and hundreds of homes that Trump pledged to build for the broader community, there is a 19-room boutique hotel and a small clubhouse with a restaurant and shop that sells Trump-branded whisky, leather hip flasks and golf paraphernalia. Financial filings show that his course on the Menie Estate in Balmedie lost $1.9 million in 2023 - its 11th consecutive financial loss since he acquired the 1,400-acre grounds in 2006. Residents who live and work near the course say that most days, even in the height of summer, the fairway appears to be less than half full. Representatives for Trump International say the plan all along has been to gradually phase in the development at Balmedie and that it is not realistic or fair to expect everything to be built overnight. There's also support for Trump from some residents who live nearby, and in the wider Aberdeen business community. One Balmedie resident who lives in the shadow of Trump's course said that before Trump the area was nothing but featureless sand dunes and that his development, carved between those dunes, made the entire landscape look more attractive. Fergus Mutch, a policy advisor for the Aberdeen and Grampian Chamber of Commerce, said Trump's golf resort has become a "key bit of the tourism offer" that attracts "significant spenders" to a region gripped by economic turmoil, steep job cuts and a prolonged downturn in its North Sea oil and gas industry. Trump in Scotland: Liked or loathed? Still, recent surveys show that 70% of Scots hold an unfavorable opinion of Trump. Despite his familial ties and deepening investments in Scotland, Trump is more unpopular among Scots than with the British public overall, according to an Ipsos survey from March. It shows 57% of people in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland don't view Trump positively. King Charles invites Trump: American president snags another UK state visit While in Balmedie this time, Trump will open a new 18-hole golf course on his property dedicated to his mother, Mary Anne MacLeod, who was a native of Lewis, in Scotland's Western Isles. He is likely to be met with a wave of protests around the resort, as well as the one in Turnberry. The Stop Trump Coalition, a group of campaigners who oppose most of Trump's domestic and foreign policies and the way he conducts his private and business affairs, is organizing a protest in Aberdeen and outside the U.S. consulate in Edinburgh. During Trump's initial visit to Scotland as president, in his first term, thousands of protesters sought to disrupt his visit, lining key routes and booing him. One protester even flew a powered paraglider into the restricted airspace over his Turnberry resort that bore a banner that read, "Trump: well below par #resist." 'Terrific guy': The Trump-Epstein party boy friendship lasted a decade, ended badly Trump's course in Turnberry has triggered less uproar than his Balmedie one because locals say that he's invested millions of dollars to restore the glamour of its 101-year-old hotel and three golf courses after he bought the site in 2014. Trump versus the families Three families still live directly on or adjacent to Trump's Balmedie golf resort. They say that long before the world had any clue about what type of president a billionaire New York real estate mogul and reality-TV star would become, they had a pretty good idea. Forbes is one of them. He said that shortly after Trump first tried to persuade him and his late wife to sell him their farm, workers he hired deliberately sabotaged an underground water pipe that left the Forbes - and his mother, then in her 90s, lived in her own nearby house - without clean drinking water for five years. Trump International declined to provide a fresh comment on those allegations, but a spokesperson previously told USA TODAY it "vigorously refutes" them. It said that when workers unintentionally disrupted a pipe that ran into an "antiquated" makeshift "well" jointly owned by the Forbeses on Trump's land, it was repaired immediately. Trump has previously called Forbes a "disgrace" who "lives like a pig." 'I don't have a big enough flagpole' David Milne, 61, another of Trump's seething Balmedie neighbors, lives in a converted coast guard station with views overlooking Trump's course and of the dunes and the North Sea beyond. In 2009, Trump offered him and his wife about $260,000 for his house and its one-fifth acre of land, Milne said. Trump was caught on camera saying he wanted to remove it because it was "ugly." Trump, he said, "threw in some jewelry," a golf club membership (Milne doesn't play), use of a spa (not yet built) and the right to buy, at cost, a house in a related development (not yet constructed). Milne valued the offer at about half the market rate. When Milne refused that offer, he said that landscapers working for Trump partially blocked the views from his house by planting a row of trees and sent Milne a $3,500 bill for a fence they'd built around his garden. Milne refused to pay. Over the years, Milne has pushed back. He flew a Mexican flag at his house for most of 2016, after Trump vowed to build a wall on the southern American border and make Mexico pay for it. Milne, a health and safety consultant in the energy industry, has hosted scores of journalists and TV crews at his home, where he has patiently explained the pros and cons - mostly cons, in his view, notwithstanding his own personal stake in the matter - of Trump's development for the local area. Milne said that because of his public feud with Trump, he's a little worried a freelance MAGA supporter could target him or his home. He has asked police to provide protection for him and his wife at his home while Trump is in the area. He also said he won't be flying any flags this time, apart from the Saltire, Scotland's national flag. "I don't have a big enough flagpole. I would need one from Mexico, Canada, Palestine. I would need Greenland, Denmark - you name it," he said, running through some of the places toward which Trump has adopted what critics view as aggressive and adversarial policies. Dunes of great natural importance Martin Ford was the local Aberdeen government official who originally oversaw Trump's planning application to build the Balmedie resort in 2006. He was part of a planning committee that rejected it over environmental concerns because the course would be built between sand dunes that were designated what the UK calls a Site of Special Scientific Interest due to the way they shift over time. The Scottish government swiftly overturned that ruling on the grounds that Trump's investment in the area would bring a much-needed economic boost. Neil Hobday, who was the project director for Trump's course in Balmedie, last year told the BBC he was "hoodwinked" by Trump over his claim that he would spend more than a billion dollars on it. Hobday said he felt "ashamed that I fell for it and Scotland fell for it. We all fell for it." The dunes lost their special status in 2020, according to Nature Scot, the agency that oversees such designations. It concluded that their special features had been "partially destroyed" by Trump's resort. Trump International disputes that finding, saying the issue became "highly politicized." For years, Trump also fought to block the installation of a wind farm off his resort's coast. He lost that fight. The first one was built in 2018. There are now 11 turbines. Ford has since retired but stands by his belief that allowing approval for the Trump resort was a mistake. "I feel cheated out of a very important natural habitat, which we said we would protect and we haven't," he said. "Trump came here and made a lot of promises that haven't materialized. In return, he was allowed to effectively destroy a nature site of great conservation value. It's not the proper behavior of a decent person." Forbes, the former quarry worker and fisherman, said he viewed Trump in similar terms. He said that Trump "will never ever get his hands on his farm." He said that wasn't just idle talk. He said he's put his land in a trust that specified that when he dies, it can't be sold for at least 125 years.

Torture survivors condemn new rules from UK Home Office
Torture survivors condemn new rules from UK Home Office

The National

time2 hours ago

  • The National

Torture survivors condemn new rules from UK Home Office

TORTURE survivors and charities in Scotland have condemned the UK Government's citizenship ban for refugees, arguing it means people with the legal right to live here are now 'second-class' citizens living in fear of deportation. New Home Office rules mean thousands of people who have come to the UK in small boats or hidden in lorries will normally be refused citizenship – even if their claim for political asylum is granted. Most people who enter the UK on small boats to claim political asylum, having escaped war and persecution, are eventually granted refugee status and many claim British citizenship. The new ban could affect at least 71,000 people and it prompted 148 organisations and individuals to write to Home Secretary Yvette Cooper, urging her to reverse the decision. READ MORE: 'He belongs in The Hague': Keir Starmer fiercely criticised over Gaza speech Signatories to the letter claim the new rules break international law and discriminate against refugees, thousands of whom will be denied rights and left living their lives in 'limbo'. Campaigners also argued the ban makes it more difficult for refugees to integrate into society and risks 'playing into toxic politics' which is 'manipulated by the far-right to bring hate and disorder to our streets'. Last summer, rioters in England attacked mosques and tried to burn down hotels housing asylum seekers, and in recent days, protests down south turned violent again after crowds targeted a hotel in Epping, Essex, which houses people seeking sanctuary in the UK. The Government faces a 'powder keg' situation, amid fears that far-right violence targeting migrants could erupt across England again in coming days and weeks. People in Scotland affected by the citizenship ban spoke to The Ferret following debates this month at Westminster over the government's Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill (Borders Bill) which is making its way through the UK Parliament. The UK Government's bill – a response to the small boats crossing issue – is designed to 'strengthen UK border security'. Peers supportive of refugees, however, have tabled amendments to the bill and, if accepted, they would change the new Home Office guidance on citizenship. Citizenship applications The new guidance for Home Office visa and immigration staff update the 'good character' requirement for British citizenship applications. Anyone who arrived without valid entry clearance or electronic travel authorisation after undertaking a 'dangerous journey' – such as crossing the English Channel in small boats or concealed in vehicles – will almost certainly be refused citizenship, critics said. These changes apply to applications made on or after February 10, 2025, but people who came to the UK prior to then are still affected, even though they could have lived in the UK legally for years. The new guidance says: 'A person who applies for citizenship from February 10, 2025 who has previously arrived without a required valid entry clearance or electronic travel authorisation, having made a dangerous journey will normally be refused citizenship.' Critics of the ban say most refugees have no choice but to take irregular routes to reach the UK due to the lack of safe and legal alternatives. They claim the guidance breaches international law, because Article 31 of the UN Refugee Convention protects refugees from penalties for irregular illegal entry. Seeking UK citizenship costs £1735 an application, and there is no right of appeal against a refusal. Borders bill THE Government's Borders Bill has passed through the House of Commons and is now with the House of Lords for consideration. An amendment – tabled by the Bishop of Chelmsford with support from Baroness Lister of Burtersett, Lord German and Lord Kerr of Kinlochard – aims to mitigate the 'most damaging impacts' of the citizenship ban. The new clause would ensure the good character requirement is not applied contrary to the UK's international legal obligations. With Westminster now in summer recess, the bill won't be debated again until September/early October. Once peers have finished examining the draft legislation, any amendments made will be sent back to the House of Commons for agreement or further negotiation – a political process often referred to as 'ping pong'. Reaction Those affected by the ban include Yahya Fasi, a youth football coach with the St Mirren football club charitable foundation who is a refugee from Syria. A former professional football player in Damascus, he has lived in Rothesay, Bute, since 2020, where his family has a barbershop, beautician business and a patisserie. He told The Ferret that he and his family have 'worked hard' towards getting citizenship, and did everything asked of them, adding that the ban is 'heartbreaking'. (Image: SNS) 'To now be told we can't even apply is deeply disappointing. We've built our lives here from nothing. We've always tried to give back to the community and to contribute in any way we can, because Bute feels like home,' Fasi said. 'It's where we finally felt safe, where our children are growing, and where we've started to heal. We don't want to go back to Syria. We have no one left there, no family, no home. Everything we had was destroyed. Even speaking about it brings back painful memories we try to forget.' Gulan, a refugee who came to Scotland with her two children to escape torture in Iraq, said she faced 'horrible and unbearable violence' at home and had 'no choice but to leave', adding that the journey was 'extremely dangerous'. She said: 'Over the years, we have integrated into the community and found happiness. With our skills and experiences, we deserve to be treated with dignity and respect as any citizen. 'We haven't done anything wrong; we shouldn't be punished for taking the only option we had left when other legal ways to survive just weren't available.' Ahlam Souidi, a senior community development worker at Freedom from Torture, a charity in Glasgow that helps refugees, said many of the torture survivors she works with took 'extraordinarily dangerous journeys, compelled by desperation' and with no 'viable alternatives'. 'If the Government really follows through with blocking refugees from getting citizenship, the UK will be taking a huge step backwards,' she argued. 'This approach doesn't align with our values as a compassionate society and will only cause further distress to the survivors I work with every day. We urge the Government to immediately reconsider.' Her views were echoed by Sabir Zazai, chief executive at the Scottish Refugee Council, who claimed the policy change will have a 'significant long-term impact' on many people already in Scotland, who are 'working and contributing' to the economy and culture. 'This change doesn't discriminate between refugees, victims of trafficking, or children,' he said. 'It doesn't consider the unique vulnerabilities and complex backgrounds of people seeking protection, many of whom have fled unthinkable circumstances. 'British citizenship is the beginning of many people's integration journey. Without it, people do not have the right to vote in UK elections. They do not have the freedom to travel, or work in many government jobs. But worst of all, they remain at risk of detention or deportation.' A Home Office spokesperson said: 'Citizenship applications will continue to be considered on a case-by-case basis.' Syrian asylum claims resume It emerged this month that the UK Government would start processing Syrian asylum claims again. Last December, decisions were suspended after President Bashar al-Assad was overthrown by an Islamist militant group called Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, after years of civil war. This left in limbo more than 7000 Syrians in the UK waiting for a decision on an asylum claim. In parts of Syria, the security situation remains unstable and there has been fighting in the province of Suweida between Druze and Bedouin militias, as well as government forces, in recent weeks. The latest violence started last week. A few days later, Israel got involved and launched air strikes, saying it was protecting the Druze against government forces. At time of writing, more than 1100 people are reported to have been killed in Suweida, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which is based in the UK. Meanwhile, the UK Government has published updated guidance for officials to make decisions on Syrian asylum claims. It says that about 60% of the population suffers from food insecurity, millions live in inadequate accommodation, roughly half of the hospitals are non-functional, and millions face issues accessing sufficient clean water and safe sanitation systems. The guidance continues: 'There are approximately 7.4 million internally displaced persons in Syria, with more than two million living in temporary shelter arrangements such as camps, which suffer from severe overcrowding and poor living conditions.' However, there is a caveat that 'the general humanitarian situation in Syria is not so severe that there are substantial grounds for believing that there is a real risk of serious harm' if someone is returned. 'All cases must be considered on their individual facts, with the onus on the person to demonstrate they face persecution or serious harm,' the guidance adds. The Home Office has been asked to comment.

Miriam Margolyes 'disgusted' by Labour's complicity in Gaza
Miriam Margolyes 'disgusted' by Labour's complicity in Gaza

The National

time3 hours ago

  • The National

Miriam Margolyes 'disgusted' by Labour's complicity in Gaza

In an exclusive interview with the Sunday National, Margolyes said the UK Government was supporting "evil on a grand scale". The 84-year-old British-Australian actress, who is Jewish, has previously shown her support for Gaza, having recently signed a letter calling for change in the BBC as a result of its reporting on Israel and Palestine – but she has rarely spoken to the media about her position. Miriam Margolyes (Image: Impressive PR) Margolyes said that while she had always been a Labour supporter, the UK is currently in "a right old mess". "I think it's about as low as it's been, certainly in my lifetime," she told the Sunday National. READ MORE: My family starves in Gaza while the world watches. We must keep speaking up "They've forgotten what Labour is about. I don't recognise any of the people, I don't recognise what they want, I don't share in their hopes. I feel very, very depressed about the political situation, I really do." Margolyes highlighted the UK Government's "ghastly" position on a number of issues, but was particularly "concerned" about Gaza. She said: "Because I'm Jewish – although not a believer in it – I do care very much about what happens to Israel and to the Palestinian people. And that is where I think we've gone terribly wrong. "I think the Labour Party should have made more sanctions against Israel, and stopped this nonsense about antisemitism. "Of course, there is antisemitism, there's always been antisemitism – nobody likes Jews, they never have. "But this is about Israel and the actions of Israel, it's not about Jews." (Image: Fatima Shbair / AP)Margolyes went on to say that when she sees "that people who have nothing now – who have no home, no food, no medicine, no hope – are being hounded from place to place by an immensely powerful opposing power, I know that it's wrong". "I don't have to think about it, I know that evil is happening on a grand scale, and my country is supporting and helping it," she told the Sunday National. "I'm shocked and disgusted and dazed by this, and I don't understand why everybody isn't, I really don't see why people allow this horror to take place. "It's completely, completely wicked." READ MORE: Scottish community-owned island announces full boycott of Israel Margolyes acknowledged that she often receives criticism for speaking on political issues as an actress, but maintained that "it's not about me as an actress, I'm thinking about it as a person". "I try and raise awareness when I think something is wrong. And I am absolutely bloody certain that what Israel is doing is wrong, wicked, indefensible," she told the Sunday National. She continued: "For 80 years, they have tried to destroy the spirit of the Palestinian people. They have failed conspicuously. "If they think that bombing and killing young children, and herding people from place to place, if they think that's going to build loyalty towards Israel in Palestinians, or stop them from being their enemy, they are quite wrong. "They are building – ensuring – hatred every day. "Of course, I have to speak about that. I'm a human being, it's about being a human being. Keir Starmer, and that long drink of a fellow Jacob Rees-Mogg, and Nigel Farage, they've all forgotten how to be human." Margolyes added as an aside: "Everybody thinks that I'm a comedian, and that I'm a bundle of laughs. When there are things to be laughing about and have fun with, I'm happy to do it. But God Almighty, it's difficult now, isn't it?" 'I would vote SNP if I lived in Scotland' WHEN Margolyes spoke to The National last year, she revealed that she would welcome Scottish independence. One year later, her position remains the same – and she has revealed who she would vote for if she lived in Scotland. "I like the way that the SNP politicians talk about Scotland. If I lived in Scotland, I would probably vote [[SNP]]," she said. "I don't live in Scotland, but I hope that they do very well in the elections." Margolyes will be returning to Scotland next month for the Edinburgh Fringe Festival with her show Margolyes And Dickens: More Best Bits. Miriam Margolyes (Image: PA) The show is split into two parts: A deep-dive into the world of Charles Dickens, who she describes as "the art in my life", followed by an open-floor Q&A. Margolyes expressed her love for the Fringe, having first come to the festival when she was around 10 years old, but stressed that it was becoming harder for young people to attend. She said: "It's all so expensive. I'm very lucky because I've become well known, so I've got a production company that's representing me. I don't have to do anything, I just have to deliver a show and go on stage and do it. READ MORE: Comedian cancels Fringe show over 'terror' charge bail conditions' "I don't have to do what I did have to do when I first came, which was to go round with leaflets, begging people to put them up in their restaurants and launderettes and on their windscreens, begging for attention, trying to talk to journalists. "It's hard for young people to get going. I think that there should be a kind of, not exactly a levy, but people like me who've got money, we should put aside a lump sum to help young people find a place to live, so that life can flourish and that they don't dwindle and die because they can't find a place to perform. She concluded: "It's the young that give it the majesty and the miracle, it's not oldies like me. It's the young: They're the people that astonish and delight." Margolyes And Dickens: More Best Bits is at the Pentland Theatre at Pleasance at EICC, August 9 to 24 at 6pm.

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