According to ministerial announcements made last week, the UK will conduct a statutory investigation into claims that British SAS soldiers executed more than 50 people in Afghanistan without trial.
Minister for Defense Personnel Andrew Murrison stated in a speech to the legislature that the Ministry of Defense (MoD) has bowed to demands for an “independent statutory probe,” according to The Guardian. Since the initial accusations of suspected war crimes surfaced, the MoD has for years rejected calls for an impartial investigation.
It is alleged that between 2010 and 2011, an SAS unit in Helmand province killed 54 Afghans.
Lord Justice Haddon-Cave will oversee the investigation, which Murrison said will get under way “in earnest” in 2023.
“The general public and every member of the armed forces have a right to demand an objective, courageous investigation of the facts and clear responses to the issues posed.” I’ll try to accomplish this in a timely manner. Lord Justice Haddon-Cave stated
John Healy, who is the shadow defence secretary, was happy to hear the news, but he was worried about whether or not the MoD would help with the investigation.
Healy claimed that the MoD replies “too frequently with denial and delay.”
When BBC Panorama reports about the claims came out in July, the MoD quickly said that they were “irresponsible, wrong, and rushed to unreasonable considerations.”
One high court lawsuit launched by the law firm Leigh Day against the MoD concerns the 2011 SAS raid that resulted in the deaths of an Afghan man’s father, two brothers, and cousin.
The SAS executed Afghan inmates, according to evidence presented in court, after accusing them of making weapons.
According to later internal military communications, a sergeant-major got an email a day after the killings that called the deaths “the latest massacre.”
Lawyers for the guy, who goes by the pseudonym “Safiullah,” have asked for a judicial review, claiming that the MoD did not adequately look into the claims.
