Latest news with #British forces
Yahoo
28 minutes ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Healey: Accountability starts now over Afghan data leak and injunction
Defence Secretary John Healey has said that 'accountability starts now' after an injunction blocking reporting about the leak of data on Afghans who supported British forces was lifted. His Tory predecessor, Sir Ben Wallace, has said he makes 'no apology' for applying for the initial injunction and insisted it was 'not a cover-up'. Thousands of people are being relocated to the UK as part of a secret £850 million scheme set up after the breach. Mr Healey was informed of the breach, which dates back to 2022, while in his shadow role in opposition and earlier this year, he commissioned a review that led to the injunction being lifted. 'Accountability starts now, doesn't it, because it allows the proper scrutiny of what went on, the decisions that Ben Wallace took, the decisions I've taken, and the judgments… and any action or accountability that may be appropriate can follow now,' he told BBC Breakfast. A dataset containing the personal information of nearly 19,000 people who applied for the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy (Arap) was released 'in error' in February 2022 by a defence official. The Ministry of Defence only became aware of the breach when excerpts from the dataset were posted anonymously on a Facebook group in August 2023, and a super-injunction was granted at the High Court in an attempt to prevent the Taliban from finding out about the leak. Sir Ben said he had applied for a four-month injunction and did not know why it was converted into a super-injunction in September 2023, by which time Grant Shapps had taken over as defence secretary. 'But nevertheless, I think the point here is I took a decision that the most important priority was to protect those people who could have been or were exposed by this data leak in Afghanistan, living amongst the Taliban who had no regard for their safety, or indeed potentially could torture them or murder them,' he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme. He had defended his decision in an article in the Telegraph. 'I make no apology for applying to the court for an injunction at the time. It was not, as some are childishly trying to claim, a cover-up,' he said. The leak led to the creation of a secret Afghan relocation scheme – the Afghanistan Response Route – in April 2024. The scheme is understood to have cost around £400 million so far, with a projected final cost of about £850 million. A total of around 6,900 people are expected to be relocated by the end of the scheme. It is understood that the unnamed official emailed the data outside a secure government system while attempting to verify information, believing the dataset to only have around 150 rows. However, more than 33,000 rows of information were inadvertently sent. Downing Street declined to say on Tuesday whether the official involved had faced disciplinary action or was still employed by the Government. Asked if they had faced any sanctions, Mr Healey said he was not going to 'lead a witch hunt after a defence official'. 'This is much bigger than the mistake of an individual,' he told the BBC. He had confirmed the previous day that they were no longer doing the same job on the Afghan brief. The injunction was in place for almost two years, covering Labour and Conservative governments. Mr Healey said he was 'comfortable' he had not misled people but that parliamentary committees would now have a chance to scrutinise the decision he and other ministers before him had made, in remarks to Times Radio. He had offered a 'sincere apology' on behalf of the Government in the Commons on Tuesday, and said he had been 'deeply uncomfortable' being unable to speak about it in Parliament. Kemi Badenoch has said sorry on behalf of the Conservatives for the leak. 'On behalf of the government and on behalf of the British people, yes, because somebody made a terrible mistake and names were put out there… and we are sorry for that,' she told LBC. Between 80,000 and 100,000 people, including the estimated number of family members of the Arap applicants, were affected by the breach and could be at risk of harassment, torture or death if the Taliban obtained their data, judges said in June 2024. However, an independent review, commissioned by the Government in January 2025, concluded last month that the dataset is 'unlikely to significantly shift Taliban understanding of individuals who may be of interest to them'.
Al Jazeera
14 hours ago
- Politics
- Al Jazeera
Video: UK secretly resettles thousands of Afghans after data breach
UK secretly resettles thousands of Afghans after data breach NewsFeed The United Kingdom set up a secret plan to resettle thousands of Afghans in Britain after a data leak accidentally disclosed private information of more than 33,000 people. Britain's defence minister told Parliament Tuesday the breach that revealed details about Afghans who worked with British forces happened in 2022 but was suppressed under a 'super injunction.' Video Duration 01 minutes 05 seconds 01:05 Video Duration 00 minutes 44 seconds 00:44 Video Duration 00 minutes 38 seconds 00:38 Video Duration 02 minutes 56 seconds 02:56 Video Duration 01 minutes 27 seconds 01:27 Video Duration 01 minutes 58 seconds 01:58 Video Duration 00 minutes 54 seconds 00:54
The Guardian
17 hours ago
- Politics
- The Guardian
What we know about the secret Afghan relocation scheme
Details have emerged for the first time of an enormous accidental data breach by a British official in 2022 that put 100,000 Afghans at risk of torture and death, and the huge efforts by successive governments to keep the blunder secret, citing the risk of Taliban reprisals. Thousands of Afghan people – some of whom had worked with British forces in the country – have been secretly relocated to the UK as a direct result of the leak, at an additional cost of more than £850m. The breach has been subject to a superinjunction since August 2023, meaning journalists were banned from disclosing anything about it – or even the fact that an injunction existed. The superinjunction, which is the first ever requested by a British government and the longest in history, was lifted by the high court on Tuesday, which is why details of the leak and response can now be revealed. The leak in February 2022 was the result of an error by a defence official, who had been tasked with verifying applications to the Afghanistan Resettlement and Assistance Policy (Arap) resettlement scheme, designed for Afghans who had worked for British forces in the country. Working outside authorised government systems, he contacted a number of Afghans in the UK, believing he was sending a list of 150 names. Instead, he had emailed a copy of the entire list of applicants, from where it was passed on to others in Afghanistan. The Times reported the official was a British soldier based at Regent's Park barracks, the headquarters of the UK special forces. The leaked dataset contained the personal details of 18,800 individuals who were applying for resettlement along with their family members, including their phone numbers and in some cases addresses, amounting to 33,000 lines of data. Some emails of British government officials were also disclosed. It was discovered in August 2023 by an activist who was helping Afghans who had worked for UK forces. One of her contacts alerted her in alarm saying that an anonymous member of a Facebook group had said he had the database and was threatening to post it in full. She immediately contacted the MoD, saying: 'The Taliban may now have a 33,000-long kill list – essentially provided to them by the British government. If any of these families are murdered, the government will be liable.' The discovery was 'simply bone-chilling', she wrote. The realisation sparked panic in Whitehall, and an immediate hunt for the source of the leak. At the same time, UK officials contacted 1,800 Arap applicants in Pakistan warning them that they might be in danger. The MoD asked Facebook to remove the post, citing the 'risk of physical harm'. It then launched a top secret initiative, named Operation Rubific, to secretly evacuate to the UK those deemed most at risk of Taliban assassination – although tens of thousands would be left behind. After a number of journalists became aware of the leak within days of its disclosure to the MoD, Ben Wallace, then the defence secretary, asked the high court for an order banning any mention of the breach. On 1 September 2023 the judge Mr Justice Knowles granted a three-month superinjunction 'against the world', rather than named individuals, the first of its kind. Another judge extended it the following February, saying there was a 'real possibility that it is serving to protect' those named in the leaked database. However he cautioned: 'What is clear is that the government has decided to offer help to only a very small proportion of those whose lives have been endangered by the data incident and that the decisions in this regard are being taken without any opportunity for scrutiny through the media or in parliament.' The injuction was later extended further, despite challenges from four media organisations. The government cited concerns of retribution from the Taliban against those named. In December 2023 a covert new scheme called the Afghanistan Response Route (ARR), was set up to evacuate to the UK some individuals on the list who were ineligible for Arap. Though it was initially set up to resettle around 200 'principals' and their families, to date 900 individuals and 3,600 family members have been brought to Britain or are in transit via ARR, at a cost of £400m. Taking into account the wider schemes, other official figures show that so far the government has relocated 35,245 Afghans to Britain, of whom 16,156 were among those affected by the data leak. The present defence minister, John Healey, had been briefed on the leak while in opposition, but said on Tuesday that other cabinet members had only become aware of the situation after Labour was elected to government in July 2024. On taking office he 'began straightway to take a hard look at the policy complexities, costs, risks, court hearings and the range of Afghan relocation schemes being run across government', he told parliament on Tuesday. In January, he commissioned a former senior civil servant, Paul Rimmer, to conduct an independent review. He concluded that, nearly four years into Taliban rule of Afghanistan, the leaked data 'may not have spread nearly as widely as initially feared', and 'there is little evidence of intent by the Taliban to conduct a campaign of retribution' against those on the leaked list. The review concluded that the ARR scheme 'may now be disproportionate to the actual impact of the data loss'. As a result, the government told the high court on Tuesday that the superinjunction should be discontinued. In his ruling, Mr Justice Chamberlain described the cost of the plans as amounting to 'the sort of money which makes a material difference to government spending plans and is normally the stuff of political debate'. The ARR has now closed, Healey told MPs, although he said 600 'invitations' that had already been granted to individuals and their families would be honoured. 'When this nation makes a promise, we should keep it,' he said. He also offered 'a sincere apology on behalf of the British government', which was echoed by the Conservative shadow defence minister, James Cartlidge. MoD figures published on Tuesday show that across several Afghan resettlement schemes, the numbers of those who have already come to the UK and those who have not yet travelled total 56,100 people, including family members. The estimated total cost of all resettlement schemes is now £5.5-6bn. The covert ARR scheme set up specifically in response to the leak is expected to cost £850m.
BreakingNews.ie
a day ago
- Politics
- BreakingNews.ie
Thousands being relocated to UK after personal data leak of Afghans
Thousands of people are being relocated to the UK as part of a secret £850 million scheme set up after a personal data leak of Afghans who supported British forces, it can now be reported. A dataset containing the personal information of nearly 19,000 people who applied for the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy (Arap) was released 'in error' in February 2022 by a defence official. Advertisement The breach resulted in the creation of a secret Afghan relocation scheme – the Afghanistan Response Route – in April 2024. The scheme is understood to have cost around £400 million so far, with a projected cost once completed of around £850 million. Millions more is expected to be paid in legal costs and compensation. The UK ministry of defence (MoD) only became aware of the breach over a year after the release, when excerpts of the dataset were anonymously posted onto a Facebook group in August 2023. Advertisement Details on the dataset include the the names and contact details of the Arap applicants and names of their family members. Arap was responsible for relocating Afghan nationals who had worked for or with the UK government and were therefore at risk of reprisals once the Taliban returned to power in Kabul in 2021. Between 80,000 and 100,000 people, including the estimated number of family members of the Arap applicants, were affected by the breach and could be at risk of harassment, torture or death if the Taliban obtained their data, judges said in June 2024. However an independent review, commissioned by the UK government in January 2025, concluded last month that the dataset is 'unlikely to significantly shift Taliban understanding of individuals who may be of interest to them'. Advertisement Around 4,500 people – made up of 900 Arap applicants and approximately 3,600 family members have been brought to the UK or are in transit so far through the Afghanistan Response Route. A further estimated 600 people and their relatives are expected to be relocated before the scheme closes, with a total of around 6,900 people expected to be relocated by the end of the scheme. Projected costs of the scheme may include relocation costs, transitional accommodation, legal costs and local authority tariffs. It is understood that the unnamed official had emailed the dataset outside of a secure government system while attempting to verify information, believing the dataset to only have around 150 rows. Advertisement However, there were more than 33,000 rows of information which were inadvertently sent. An unprecedented superinjunction was made at the High Court in September 2023 to reduce the risk of alerting the Taliban to the existence of the data, with the decision to apply for an order made by then-defence secretary Ben Wallace. The Information Commissioner's Office and Metropolitan Police were also informed. The superinjunction, lifted on Tuesday, is thought to be the longest lasting order of its kind and the first time the Government has sought such a restrictive measure against the media. Advertisement At multiple hearings, lawyers for the MoD said in written submissions that there was a 'very real risk that people who would otherwise live will die' if the Taliban gained access to the data. However, a recent report by retired civil servant Paul Rimmer said: 'Given the data they already have access to as the de facto government, we believe it is unlikely the dataset would be the single, or definitive, piece of information enabling or prompting the Taliban to act.' Mr Rimmer further found that the Government possibly 'inadvertently added more value to the dataset' by seeking the unprecedented superinjunction and creating a bespoke resettlement scheme. Under plans set out last October, the Afghanistan Response Route was expected to allow up to 25,000 people – most of whom were ineligible for Arap but deemed to be at the highest risk from Taliban reprisals – to be relocated. One internal Government document from February this year said: 'This will mean relocating more Afghans to the UK than have been relocated under the Arap scheme, at a time when the UK's immigration and asylum system is under significant strain. This will extend the scheme for another five years at a cost of c. £7 billion.' This figure is understood to be a previous estimate of the cost of all Afghan relocations, with projected costs now between £5.5 billion and £6 billion. The resettlement schemes are closing, with the review suggesting that the Afghanistan Response Route may be 'disproportionate' to the impact of the Taliban obtaining the information. As of March 2025, around 36,000 people had been relocated to the UK under Arap and other resettlement schemes. Arap, which was launched in April 2021, is now closed to new applicants after immigration rule changes were laid in Parliament earlier this month. The Government had originally outlined plans to launch a compensation scheme for those affected by the breach, with an estimated cost of between £120 and £350 million, not including administration expenses. Hundreds of data protection legal challenges are also expected, with the court previously told that a Manchester-based law firm already had several hundred prospective clients. A High Court judge lifted the superinjunction. Photo: PA. The breach can now be reported after a High Court judge lifted the superinjunction – which prohibited making any reference to the existence of the court proceedings and is thought to have been the longest and widest ranging of its kind – on Tuesday. In one of several rulings, judge Mr Justice Chamberlain noted the superinjunction 'imposed very wide-ranging restrictions', with information about the breach limited to selected officials. In a decision in November 2023, Mr Justice Chamberlain said while the superinjunction did not constrain what could be said in Parliament, 'MPs and peers cannot ask questions about something they do not know about'. The judge ruled in May 2024 that the order should be lifted, stating there was a 'significant possibility' the Taliban knew about the dataset, adding it was 'fundamentally objectionable' that decisions about thousands of people's lives and 'enormous sums of public money now being committed' were being taken in secret. However, judges at the Court of Appeal overturned this ruling the following month, finding that he had not properly considered the consequences of lifting the order and that the superinjunction should stay in place. Following the retired civil servant's review, the MoD agreed on July 4 that the order could be lifted. It is expected that the cost of seeking and maintaining the superinjunction will be several million pounds. Reading a summary of his judgment in court on Tuesday, Mr Justice Chamberlain noted that the grant of the superinjunction had 'given rise to serious free speech concerns'. He added: 'The superinjunction had the effect of completely shutting down the ordinary mechanisms of accountability which operate in a democracy. 'This led to what I describe as a 'scrutiny vacuum'.'
The Guardian
a day ago
- Politics
- The Guardian
Thousands relocated to UK after data leak on Afghans who helped British forces
Thousands of people are being relocated to the UK as part of a secret £850m scheme set up after a personal data leak of Afghans who supported British forces, it can now be reported. A dataset containing the personal information of nearly 19,000 people who applied for the Afghan relocations and assistance policy (Arap) was released 'in error' by a defence official in February 2022. The breach resulted in the creation of a secret Afghan relocation scheme – the Afghanistan Response Route – in April 2024. The scheme is understood to have cost about £400m so far, with a projected cost once completed of about £850m. Millions more is expected to be paid in legal costs and compensation. The Ministry of Defence (MoD) only became aware of the breach more than a year after the release when excerpts of the dataset were anonymously posted on to a Facebook group in August 2023. More details soon …
