Latest news with #resettlement scheme
The Independent
5 days ago
- The Independent
Afghans exposed in huge MoD data leak could get thousands in compensation
Afghans whose details were exposed in a huge Ministry of Defence data leak, putting up to 100,000 people at risk, could get thousands of pounds each in compensation. Around 18,700 Afghans had their names and contact information breached when an MoD official emailed a secret database to trusted Afghan contacts in February 2022. The blunder, which was only discovered by the government in August 2023, resulted in some 16,000 Afghans being brought to safety in Britain as part of a covert operation, over fears they would be targeted by the Taliban. The database included details of Afghan applicants to the MoD's resettlement scheme, and the discovery of the leak sparked an unprecedented superinjunction, gagging the press and preventing any discussion of its very existence for nearly two years. Though some 3,700 principal applicants whose data was shared will be given sanctuary in Britain, the rest will not be helped after a government-commissioned review concluded that it was unlikely that 'merely being on the dataset would be grounds for targeting'. Now, hundreds have signed up for compensation claims against the MoD over the breach. One claim is being run by law firm Leigh Day, which represents at least 70 people and is taking on new claimants every day, estimating that their clients could get thousands of pounds each in compensation. Leigh Day partner, Sean Humber, said: "As the injunction was only lifted over a week ago, which is when those affected became aware that their personal data had been disclosed without their knowledge or consent, this claim is still at an early stage. "We expect the level of compensation to be in the thousands, although the exact amount is likely to vary and will probably be higher for those remaining in Afghanistan compared to those that have successfully relocated to the UK." Barings Law, a Manchester-based firm who are also organising a claim, reportedly has over 1,000 clients. Adnan Malik, head of data protection at the firm, claimed that their clients would get 'at least five figures'. Compensation claims often settle before they reach court, but the MoD has already said it will fight 'any legal action or compensation'. It will also not proactively hand out payouts to those Afghans who have been affected, despite offering up to £4,000 each for 265 Afghans impacted by a smaller data breach in 2021. One independent case worker, who supports Afghan resettlement applications, said: 'For people whose details were breached but have no hope of ever being found eligible for resettlement in the UK, a compensation payment will allow them to relocate – whether than be by funding passports and visas to another country, or internally in Afghanistan. 'Whilst the government may argue that we have no obligation to evacuate every family affected by the data breach, there is a duty of care to give them the means to improve the safety of their situation.' Sarah Fenby-Dixon, Afghanistan consultant at the Refugee Aid Network, said: "Compensation money will be useful to families, as many members of the former Afghan security forces feel they can't work for fear of being identified. This applied to both those affected by the leak and those not". A Ministry of Defence spokesperson said: 'These are hypothetical claims, and we will robustly defend against any legal action or compensation. 'The independent Rimmer Review concluded that it is highly unlikely that merely being on the spreadsheet would be grounds for an individual to be targeted, and this is the basis on which the court lifted its super injunction this month.'
The Independent
17-07-2025
- Politics
- The Independent
‘We were lucky to escape Afghanistan alive - nine months later, we're still waiting to be brought to safety'
Rayan and his family have spent the past 271 days staring at the same four walls of their cramped and sparse hotel room in Pakistan. They were found eligible for sanctuary in the UK due to his father's former service alongside the British special forces nine months ago - but they are still waiting, in fear for their long-term safety, to be brought to the UK. On Tuesday, along with thousands of others, he received an email from the Ministry of Defence warning him that due to a data loss in 2022, 'some of the personal data associated with this email address may have been compromised'. As he typed the family's application reference number into the government's checking system, a bright red warning sign flashed up alerting him that they were affected by the huge Afghan data leak, which has seen the names and contact information of 18,700 people with links to British forces being shared 'in error'. The catastrophic breach of Afghan applications to the MoD's resettlement scheme was inadvertently shared by a member of the armed forces, potentially putting 100,000 people at risk of reprisals from the Taliban. Learning that the leak could have put his family at risk was 'an awful experience', he told The Independent. The Taliban had already burnt down their family home and arrested some family members because of his father's previous role. Now he is desperate to know the answer to one urgent question - when will they be brought to safety? The need to leave Pakistan is a pressing one. Three months ago the family were arrested by Pakistani police and taken to a deportation centre, sparing fears they would be returned to once again face their fate at the hands of the Taliban, he said. Speaking from his hotel in Islamabad, which is being used by the UK government to house Afghans eligible for sanctuary in Britain, he said: 'We have seen 24 families go from Pakistan to the UK but our family has been waiting here. Our visas expired, and at least three times Pakistani police have tried to capture us. 'Once they arrested all of our family and took us to a deportation centre in Pakistan. It was a Sunday three months ago at around 10 o'clock. 'We were inside our rooms and the manager told us they were asking about our visas. I showed them our permissions from the British High Commission in Pakistan and they said that was unacceptable.' Rayan said he and his family were then taken to a deportation centre where they were threatened with being sent back to Afghanistan the next day. Luckily, he was able to pay a police officer to use his phone and, after several attempts, was able to get through to their caseworker, who could confirm their eligibility to be there. 'After around 30 hours, a diplomat came from the British High Commission and we were allowed out,' he said. In total, 16 members of his family are now sharing three hotel rooms as they wait for relocation. Two babies have been born in the time that they have spent in limbo in Pakistan, one now aged four months old and the other now seven months old. Each room has only a single bed, he said, meaning the rest of the family is forced to sleep on mattresses on the floor. With no money and after their belongings were lost to the fire, they have had to rely on the kindness of others to get by. 'When our children were born, we asked our caseworker if they could help with some supplies for them. We told them that our house had been burned down by the Taliban and we didn't have any money. The weather was really cold in Pakistan and we didn't have the money to buy things for our child. 'Unfortunately, we had to go to the other Afghan families, who helped us with some clothes for our daughter. They were a big size, but we didn't have any other choice'. When he first received the email from the MoD's Afghan caseworker team on Tuesday, he hoped it would bring news that the family were finally being brought to safety. But he was wrong. 'At the moment, we are in fear of emails from the UK, we are afraid that they would reject us. I saw it said that some data had been released. The second email said we could check if our data had been breached. 'When I checked it, I found that our data was linked. It was a really awful experience. I feel like a ball in a football pitch with everyone kicking us from one side to the other'. And yet there is still no end in sight for the family, who now face a continued agonising wait to find out when they can come to the UK. The Ministry of Defence have been contacted for comment.
The Independent
15-07-2025
- Politics
- The Independent
MoD official responsible for catastrophic Afghan data breach that cost billions still works for government
The Ministry of Defence official responsible for a catastrophic data leak which put the lives of up to 100,000 Afghans at risk still works for the government, it has emerged. The major breach happened in February 2022 after a member of the armed forces inadvertently shared a spreadsheet containing the names of thousands of people who said they were in danger from the Taliban and had applied for sanctuary in Britain. The leak, which came to light when someone threatened to publish the whole list on Facebook, prompted thousands of Afghans to be evacuated to Britain under a top secret resettlement scheme which the government projected to cost billions. The details of the leak, and the subsequent evacuation, have been kept under wraps for almost two years as the result of an unprecedented superinjunction. Asked whether the serviceman behind the leak was still employed by the government, defence secretary John Healey told the News Agents Podcast: 'They are no longer doing the same job on the Afghan brief and in the end.' Asked for a second time whether the official was still employed by the government, Mr Healey refused to be drawn on the matter. Instead, he added: 'This is bigger than the actions of a single individual. 'For me as defence secretary now in this government, my biggest concern and my first focus coming into government was to try and get a grip of something that was entirely unprecedented'. Journalist Lewis Goodall asked for a third time whether the person is still a government employee and the defence secretary again avoided answering. Pushed for a fourth time, he responded: 'I'm actually not going to get into the personnel matters'. Asked yet again, he went on: 'My first priority was not trying to conduct some sort of witch hunt on the defence official that released the spreadsheet that caused this profound data loss. 'My argument to you is that accountability can start today, accountability in due course, as the facts of this are properly scrutinised and examined that will come.' Mr Goodall told Mr Healey that 'we can assume on the basis of your answers that noone has been fired'. When The Independent asked the MoD to clarify whether the serviceman was still employed by the government, a spokesperson said there was nothing to add. The database contained 33,000 records and the confidential information of over 18,700 applicants to the Ministry of Defence 's Afghan resettlement scheme (Arap). It contained email addresses and phone numbers of applicants, as well as their father's names and their case status. It also included the names of some British government officials. It is understood that the unnamed official emailed the dataset while trying to verify information about the applications, believing the dataset to only have around 150 rows. The MoD only became aware of the breach more than a year after the release, when excerpts of the dataset were anonymously posted onto a Facebook group in August 2023, with officials fearing those affected by the breach could be at risk of harassment, torture or death if the Taliban obtained their data. 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, which banned any news about the leak being published or the order itself being discussed. Ministers went on to create a secret Afghan relocation scheme – the Afghanistan Response Route – in a bid to help covertly relocate more than 16,000 Afghans to the UK. Around 8,000 more Afghans are still due to arrive in Britain. Asked about the next steps, Mr Healey said that influential committees of MPs, such as the defence select committee, should 'absolutely' launch an 'in depth inquiry' in to what had happened. He said he thought he would have been 'very, very unlikely' to have taken out a superinjunction if he had been in position at the time the data breach was discovered. Senior MPs have warned about the precedent set by the super injunction to cover up the data breach. Former Tory leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith said: 'I am concerned the super injunction was applied as that is peculiar, it stopped any free speech or examination in Parliament and we are still none the wiser as to who was responsible or why it happened.' 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.
