News

The Inquiry has published a news update for Spring 2024.

Today the Chair of the Inquiry, Lord Justice Sir Charles Haddon-Cave issued his Directions regarding the Section 21(4) Application made by Rt Hon. Johnny Mercer.

The Independent Inquiry relating to Afghanistan has received an application to set aside the s.21 notice from Mr Mercer.  The application will be put before the Chair of the Inquiry, The Rt. Hon Lord Justice Haddon-Cave for his consideration, and his decision will be given in due course.

STATEMENT BY THE INQUIRY 

The Inquiry is committed to ensuring the information provided to us in confidence is protected.  We have robust and sophisticated procedures in place to protect all information, including protecting the identity of individuals and potential witnesses. 

The Inquiry is already protecting the identity and confidentiality of a significant number of individuals who have come forward with information. 

Mr. Mercer has been given assurances to the above effect on a number of occasions, including when he gave evidence in OPEN on 20 and 21 February 2024. 

On 13 March 2024, the Chair issued the attached Section 21 Notice to Mr Mercer. Attention is drawn to paragraphs a and b which make it clear, that all information and sources will be fully protected by the Inquiry: 

a. Disclosure of the response will not be made to any person who is not a member of the Inquiry Legal Team without the consent of Mr. Mercer.  

b. No action will be taken that would lead a person to identify Mr. Mercer as the source of information in relation to an identifiable individual that he has named in the response without the consent of Mr. Mercer.  

Annex A to the Section 21 Notice is redacted for reasons of confidentiality. 

In 2024, members of the Inquiry legal team attended a practical demonstration of the tactics, techniques and procedures used in deliberate detention operations. Attached is a copy of the Chair’s Final Determination of the Restriction Order and a gisted copy of the programme of events that took place.

The Inquiry is today publishing a gist of Closed hearings held in November 2023. Ministry of Defence corporate statements and exhibits were provided by Air Commodore Matt Bressani OBE and by a senior member of the Armed Forces with expertise in Special Forces, referred to as the SF witness.

The statement of each witness was entered into the record in its entirety as evidence along with each of the exhibits to those statements. These will not be published due to National Security. The purpose of the gist that has been published is to ensure the Inquiry remains as transparent and open as possible as it conducts its full and thorough investigation to fulfil the Terms of Reference.

In his closing remarks, the Chair reiterated to those in attendance that:

‘Nobody should be in any doubt that the Inquiry will establish the truth of the allegations, one way or the other, and make appropriate recommendations.’; and, ‘we are dealing with allegations of the gravest seriousness involving, to put it bluntly, executions of individuals who were hors de combat’.

The Chair’s full closing remarks can be found within the attached document.

The Independent Inquiry relating to Afghanistan will hold two days of open public hearings in February at the Royal Courts of Justice. You can follow the proceedings on our YouTube channel here: Independent Inquiry Relating to Afghanistan.

Date: Tuesday 20 and Wednesday 21 February 2024
Where: Court 73. Please note Court 70 has been reserved as a media annex.

Tuesday 20th February the Inquiry will be hearing from the Rt Hon Johnny Mercer MP who is currently the Minister of State for Veterans Affairs. He will be giving evidence in relation to his time as the Defence Minister for Defence People and Veterans. 

Wednesday 21st February the Inquiry will be hearing from Mark Nicol, a journalist and author who has covered the British Armed Forces involvement in Afghanistan 

The Chair of the Independent Inquiry relating to Afghanistan has today (Monday 21 August) issued his ruling on applications for restriction orders and special advocates – August 2023 Ruling.

Following submissions from Core Participants and the Media, Lord Justice (Sir Charles) Haddon-Cave has ruled there are strong national security reasons to grant restrictions over the publication or disclosure of sensitive evidence and material relating to UK Special Forces and their operations in Afghanistan, and relating to on-going investigations, and investigatory techniques, of the Royal Military Police. He will consider applications for specific restrictions on a case-by-case basis in due course as the Inquiry progresses.

Explaining his decision, Sir Charles said:

“The Inquiry has been tasked with considering grave allegations: that numerous unlawful killings were carried out by members of the Special Forces in Afghanistan; that these killings were covered up; and that the subsequent investigations by the Royal Military Police were inadequate.

I intend to hear as much evidence as I can in public, however, as the Terms of Reference acknowledge, it will be necessary to have CLOSED hearings to ensure the protection of sensitive material and the security of witnesses. This ruling explains how I will approach this as the Inquiry progresses.  The Inquiry legal team and I will vigorously pursue all relevant lines of inquiry and carefully interrogate all the evidence, in OPEN or CLOSED as appropriate, and I will publish an OPEN report in due course which will include the material which can be made public.”

The Chair’s ruling also contains two protocols: a Publication Protocol which sets out the procedures which the Inquiry intends to adopt regarding publication of documents by the Inquiry, and a Restriction Order and Hearing Protocol which sets out the process which the Inquiry will follow in respect of applications for Restriction Orders made under section 19 of the 2005 Inquiries Act.  These should be read together with the Protocol for Disclosure of Information.

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