Defence Secretary "Deeply Uncomfortable" With Super Injunction Over Afghan Data Leak
John Healey speaking in the House of Commons (Alamy / House of Commons)
3 min read
Defence Secretary John Healey has said that a super injunction over a major data leak which put thousands of Afghan lives at risk made him feel "deeply uncomfortable".
Details of the data leak and resulting secret asylum scheme were published on Tuesday after an unprecedented super injunction preventing their disclosure was lifted.
The super injunction made it illegal for journalists to report the details, and also meant that Parliament was not aware of the leak and the government's response.
In 2022, a defence official accidentally sent a confidential list of Afghans to help verify applications for sanctuary in Britain, several publications reported.
This meant that the personal information of nearly 19,000 people who had applied to relocate to the UK after assisting the British Army in Afghanistan risked entering the public domain and falling into the hands of the Taliban terrorist organisation.
They had applied for relocation through the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy scheme, which was set up after Afghanistan's capital, Kabul, fell to the Taliban following the US and UK withdrawal in 2021.
Publications reported that the list of names was passed on, with an individual threatening to post the database of names on social media.
The then-UK government launched Operation Rubific — a covert mission to prevent the leak from spreading to the public and help at-risk Afghans relocate to the UK, which in total is estimated to have cost £7bn.
Speaking in the House of Commons on Tuesday, Healey said the government had offered asylum to around 24,000 Afghan soldiers and their families affected by the data leak, and apologised on behalf of the government to those impacted.
“It has been deeply uncomfortable to be constrained to reporting to this House," said Healey.
“Members of this House, including you, Mr Speaker (Lindsay Hoyle), and myself, have been subject to this superinjunction.
“It is unprecedented, and to be clear, the court has always recognised the parliamentary privilege of proceedings in this House, and ministers decided not to tell parliamentarians at an earlier stage about the data incident, as the widespread publicity would increase the risk of the Taliban obtaining the dataset.
“But as parliamentarians and as government ministers, it has been deeply uncomfortable to be constrained from reporting to this House, and I’m grateful today to be able to disclose the details to Parliament.”
The lifting of the super injunction followed an independent review ordered by Healey and carried out by ex-Whitehall official Paul Rimmer.
Healey confirmed that the leak contained details of applicants and, in some cases, the names of MPs, senior military officers, and government officials.
The Defence Secretary said 36,000 Afghans had been accepted by the UK for asylum after the fall of Kabul to the Taliban four years ago.
“The British people have welcomed them to our country, and in turn, this is their chance to rebuild their lives, their chance to contribute and share in the prosperity of our great country," Healey told MPs.
“I recognise my statement will prompt many questions. I would have wanted to settle these matters sooner, because full accountability to Parliament and freedom of the press matter deeply to me. They’re fundamental to our British way of life."
