Thousands of Afghans, together with many who labored with British forces, had been secretly resettled within the UK after a leak of non-public data raised fears that the Taliban would possibly perhaps purpose them, the British authorities published on Tuesday.
The UK talked about it’s miles closing the resettlement programme, which a rare court stammer had barred the media from disclosing.
“To all these whose data was compromised, I offer a true apology today”, Defence Secretary John Healey talked about within the House of Commons.
He talked about he regretted the secrecy and “fill felt deeply taking into account the dearth of transparency to Parliament and the general public.”
Healey told lawmakers that a spreadsheet containing the non-public data of with reference to 19,000 of us who had applied to come to Britain after the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan was by probability released in 2022 because of this of of a defence official’s email error.
The then-Conservative authorities only became aware of the leak when some of the data was published on Facebook 18 months later.
The authorities sought a court stammer barring disclosure of the leak, in an strive to prevent the non-public data being made public any additional. The High Court docket issued an stammer is often called a neat injunction that barred any person from revealing its existence.
The authorities then place up a secret programme, the Afghan Response Route, to resettle the Afghans judged to be at excellent threat from the nation’s Taliban rulers.
The injunction was lifted on Tuesday at the side of a name by Britain’s present Labour Get together authorities to originate the programme public.
Some 4,500 Afghans — 900 candidates and approximately 3,600 family — had been introduced to Britain under the programme, and about 6,900 of us are expected to be relocated by the level it closes, at a total price of about £850 million ($1.1 billion), according to the British authorities.
Around 36,000 Afghans had been relocated to the UK under different resettlement routes since 2021.
Critics explain that mild leaves thousands of of us that helped British troops as interpreters or in numerous roles in anxiety of torture, imprisonment or loss of life.
Sean Humber, a lawyer on the firm Leigh Day, which has represented many Afghan claimants, talked about the “catastrophic” data breach had precipitated “fright, anxiety and pain” to these affected.
