TRANSCRIPT
The sound of frantic crowds rushing to Kabul airport in August 2021, seeking to evacuate Afghanistan after Western forces withdrew, and the Taliban declared victory.
Thousands of Afghan soldiers were among those left behind, many of whom had worked with British, American and Australian forces.
Data accidentally leaked in 2022 by a British defence official, containing personal information about more than 18,000 Afghans who had applied to be relocated to the UK, led Britain to set up a secret plan to relocate thousands of those named, in fear they would be killed by the Taliban.
When the British Ministry of Defence learned about the breach in 2023, they were granted an unprecedented super-injunction to stop the leak from being made public- an injunction which has now, three years later, been lifted.
BBC spoke to one man named in the leak, who has since escaped Afghanistan, but still fears for his and his family's safety.
“Now I'm scared, and unhappy for my life and the future of what is going on. If I go back, and am deported to Afghanistan, it's 100 per cent that I will be killed with my family."
Around 4,500 Afghans and their family members have been relocated or are on their way to Britain under the previously secret scheme.
Sean Humber is a lawyer acting for Afghans affected by the breach, and says the seriousness of the leak cannot be overstated.
“We are extremely concerned at what is, by any estimation, a catastrophic data breach, both because of the sensitivity of the information concerned and also the number of people affected. Over 18,000 people have been affected by this data breach.”
In total, it's an error expected to cost the British government around 800 to 850 million pounds.
Defence Secretary John Healey has apologized for the breach, acknowledging the vast scale of the error and its impact.
"Mr Speaker, this serious data incident should never have happened. It may have occurred three years ago, under the previous government, but to all those whose information was compromised I offer a sincere apology today on behalf of the British government, and I trust the shadow defence secretary, as a former defence minister, will join me in this."
Mr Healey says UK will honour 600 invitations already made to people still in Afghanistan and their immediate family, which will mean around 1,800 additional relocations.
But he says no one else will be offered asylum because of the data leak, citing a government review which found little evidence of intent from the Taliban to conduct a campaign of retribution against former officials.
Halting the scheme means around another 9,500 people impacted by the breach will not be relocated to the UK.
Humber says the Ministry of Defence's reasoning for this decision shows an inconsistency.
"They initially rushed to court to obtain an injunction, then a super injunction to prevent the disclosure of this information by the media. Precisely because of the risk that it posed to those affected. Now, somewhat curiously some may consider, they're saying, 'well, there isn't a risk.' Well, there are many credible media reports of those that are being persecuted by the Taliban in Afghanistan because of the help they provided to international forces, including UK, Australia and the U.S. forces.”
Adnan Malik is head of data protection at Barings Law, which is representing about 1,000 of the data breach victims who remain in Afghanistan.
He told Channel 4 some of those named have been killed in targeted attacks, and for others, fear of persecution is a daily reality.
"They're very scared. They believe that their life is at threat. A lot of them seem to move locations, change phone numbers, because they believe it will keep them safe, from the Taliban, from people who are sympathetic to the Taliban. Because these individuals are seen as people who were enemies of the Taliban."
Mr Humber says what's especially troubling is that it's not the first time the Ministry of Defence has exposed sensitive data relating to Afghans seeking relocation.
In 2023, the Ministry was fined £350,000 over an email blunder that exposed details of interpreters fleeing Afghanistan.
Mr Humber says details of this latest breach reveal a pattern that needs to be stopped.
“The Ministry of Defence seems, I think, institutionally incapable of keeping information safe. And so I think the issue that we need to look at is a thorough review of the government's practices and policies to ensure that something like this never happens again. They do seem very laissez faire with other people's very sensitive personal information.”
