Special Forces at centre of Afghanistan war crimes inquiry, MoD confirms

The Ministry of Defence has confirmed for the archetypal clip that UK Special Forces are astatine the centre of a warfare crimes inquiry.

The MoD connected Wednesday abandoned an effort to restrict immoderate notation of Special Forces' engagement successful the alleged warfare crimes successful Afghanistan.

The MoD's stance had been challenged by bereaved household members and by respective media outlets, including the BBC.

The enquiry follows years of reporting into alleged SAS unlawful killings.

In a connection connected Wednesday, up of a proceeding of the Independent Inquiry relating to Afghanistan, the Defence Secretary Ben Wallace said: "The enquiry is present reaching the signifier of substantive hearings, and I tin corroborate that the allegations subordinate to the behaviour of UK Special Forces."

The determination to corroborate the engagement of Special Forces units successful operations nether scrutiny from the enquiry reverses the presumption antecedently held by the MoD.

Mr Wallace said the confirmation of Special Forces engagement was made lone "in the exceptional circumstances of this inquiry".

"Outside of this precise circumstantial context, specified confirmation should not beryllium seen to change the longstanding presumption of this government, and erstwhile governments, to not remark connected the deployment oregon activities of the UK Special Forces," helium said.

The MoD had antecedently argued that the enquiry should restrict from the nationalist "any grounds oregon documents oregon words oregon passages of documents, that thin to corroborate oregon contradict the alleged engagement of United Kingdom Special Forces successful the operations that are to beryllium investigated".

But connected Monday, little than 48 hours earlier they were owed to reason their lawsuit successful beforehand of the seat of the inquiry, Lord Justice Haddon-Cave, MoD lawyers wrote to the enquiry saying the ministry "proposed to wantonness that portion of their application".

The reversal, confirmed astatine the proceeding connected Wednesday, means that grounds of engagement of UK Special Forces successful the alleged unlawful killings successful Afghanistan tin beryllium discussed openly successful the enquiry hearings and reported publicly.

The MoD is inactive pursuing a petition for each Special Forces unit progressive successful the operations successful Afghanistan to automatically beryllium granted anonymity, and for each witnesser grounds astir the operations themselves to beryllium held successful closed hearings, distant from some the bereaved families and the public.

The MoD's lawyer, Brian Altman QC, besides said that the ministry intended to support successful spot its "neither corroborate nor deny" argumentation successful narration to naming circumstantial UK Special Forces units oregon sub-units, arguing that the recognition of "particular unit elements" would airs a hazard to aboriginal capabilities and operations.

Lawyers for the families of Afghans killed successful 7 abstracted Special Forces operations reason that the wide restrictions being sought by the MoD are "unjustifiable and earnestly damaging to the credibility of the inquiry".

Tessa Gregory, a spouse astatine instrumentality steadfast Leigh Day, the instrumentality steadfast representing the families, said connected Wednesday that the relatives had suffered "years of screen up and obfuscation" and remained acrophobic adjacent arsenic the enquiry began that the MoD was "seeking to unopen the doorway connected them and forestall grounds being heard successful public".

"The bereaved families present enactment their spot successful the enquiry to uncover the truth," Ms Gregory said.

Speaking astatine the opening of the proceeding connected Wednesday astatine the Royal Courts of Justice successful London, Lord Justice Haddon Cave said that, successful enactment with the 2005 Inquiries Act, "as overmuch arsenic imaginable should beryllium heard successful nationalist to allay nationalist concerns astir the taxable substance of the inquiry".

But the seat acknowledged that immoderate grounds would request to beryllium heard successful closed hearings, due to the fact that of nationalist information concerns. "The indispensable task is to equilibrium the competing considerations successful the nationalist interest," helium said.

A spokesperson for the MoD said: "It is not due for the MOD to remark connected cases which are wrong the scope of the Statutory Inquiry and it is up to the Statutory Inquiry Team, led by Lord Justice Haddon-Cave, to find which allegations are investigated."

A lawyer for the Royal Military Police, Paul Greaney KC, told the enquiry connected Wednesday that it was presently investigating allegations of unlawful killings successful Afghanistan and had received grounds from informants connected a confidential basis.

Stressing the value of continuing its investigations without prejudicing imaginable prosecutions, and avoiding discouraging caller informants coming forward, the RMP said it was seeking its ain restrictions astir 3 cardinal areas: matters relating to its ongoing investigations; the identities of confidential informants; and the covert techniques and methods employed by the RMP truthful acold successful its investigations.

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