Superinjunction lifted – live: Judge demands answers over MoD data leak gagging order

Lifting the superinjunction on Tuesday, High Court Judge Mr Justice Chamberlain called for further investigation after an official review into the data leak “fundamentally undermined the evidential basis” on which the superinjunction had been based.

In January 2025, the former deputy head of Defence Intelligence Paul Rimmer was commissioned to review the government’s approach, leading to a report that would blow holes in their legal case.

It would conclude that as the Taliban already had access to “significant volumes of data” to identify targets and the leaked dataset would be a “piece of the puzzle” rather than a “smoking gun”.

The official review of the leak, commissioned in January 2025, warned the government may have made the dataset more appealing to the Taliban by creating the special evacuation scheme and slapping the media with a superinjunction.

As the catastrophic breach is finally made public, it can be revealed:

• The government was prepared to evacuate more than 42,000 people affected by the data leak at an estimated cost of £7bn
• At least 17 people on the dataset are believed to have been killed by the Taliban, 14 of these after the leak occurred
• The official review of the leak, commissioned in January 2025, warned the government may have made the dataset more appealing to the Taliban by creating the special evacuation scheme and slapping the media with a superinjunction
• The MoD is facing a compensation claim from more than 650 Afghans who believe they are affected by the breach, which could cost hundreds of millions of pounds

More than 16,000 Afghans were evacuated to the UK after the data leak which put their lives at risk.

With fears the list of names and information could fall into the Taliban’s hands, the UK launched the largest covert peacetime evacuation in British history.

The operation is estimated by the government to cost billions.

It was kept secret from MPs and the public as ministers even decided to hide the true reason for the evacuation from parliament.

The leaked spreadsheet contained the confidential contact information for applicants to the Ministry of Defence’s Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy (Arap), a scheme for Afghans who supported British troops.

The database contained the details of 18,800 Afghan applicants, as well as some of their family’s names.

It contained names of applicants, their fathers’ names, email addresses, phone numbers, and their case status.

The database was shared twice in February 2022 by a member of the armed forces, who was trying to verify applications to the resettlement scheme.

The breach was only discovered in August 2023 when an “anonymous member” of a Facebook group posted part of the database online.

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The Afghan data breach superinjunction was lifted by Mr Justice Chamberlain at 12pm on Tuesday, July 15.

He made the decision to lift the order after defence secretary John Healey came to the view it was no longer necessary.

The superinjunction had been granted on 1 September 2023 meaning it was in place for more than 21 months.

This superinjunction was granted ‘contra mundum’. Contra mundum, Latin for ‘against the world’, means it is applied to anyone and everyone.

The effect is that a person could be found in contempt of court if they shared any information about the injunction, whether or not they are participating in the proceedings.

A data breach by the Ministry of Defence put up to 100,000 lives at risk and sparked the largest covert peacetime evacuation in British history – then was kept secret for almost two years by an unprecedented superinjunction gagging the British press, it can be revealed today.

The leak, in February 2022, exposed the details of thousands of Afghans who were seeking sanctuary in the UK, with fears the information could have fallen into the Taliban’s hands.

As a result, more than 16,000 Afghans were brought to the UK under an operation estimated to cost billions that was kept secret from MPs and the public as ministers even misled parliament to hide the true reason for the evacuation.

The extraordinary case can only now be revealed after a nearly two year court battle in which national media including The Independent fought for the lifting of the superinjunction, a court order so strict that even mentioning its existence is forbidden.

Read the full story here.