The SOP document, which was obtained by the investigative newsroom Lighthouse Reports and shared with Panorama, shows that if UK Special Forces denied sponsorship, the applicant was automatically deemed ineligible and a rejection letter was sent out.
Panorama has also seen internal Ministry of Defence emails in which civil servants administering the relocation scheme describe being unable to challenge special forces’ rejections, even when they believed there was a strong case for resettlement.
The veto gave special forces decision-making power over applications at a time when a public inquiry in the UK was investigating allegations that SAS soldiers had committed war crimes on operations in Afghanistan where the Triples units were present.
A spokesperson for the public inquiry team told Panorama that it could not comment on specific witnesses but was “aware of the recent press articles about the Triples” and would “continue to ask anyone with relevant information to come forward”.
“A large number of Triples contacted us having been rejected in 2023, despite providing ample evidence of their work with the UK Special Forces in Afghanistan and the clear, serious risks they continue to face,” said Erin Alcock, a lawyer at Leigh Day.
The RMP felt so obstructed in their inquiries that in 2014 it formally requested the military prosecutor charge a high-ranking UK Special Forces officer with perverting the course of justice after he terminated an interview with an Afghan soldier regarding allegations of war crimes - a case which the Service Prosecuting Authority declined to take up.
The original article contains 1,417 words, the summary contains 251 words. Saved 82%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!
This is the best summary I could come up with:
The SOP document, which was obtained by the investigative newsroom Lighthouse Reports and shared with Panorama, shows that if UK Special Forces denied sponsorship, the applicant was automatically deemed ineligible and a rejection letter was sent out.
Panorama has also seen internal Ministry of Defence emails in which civil servants administering the relocation scheme describe being unable to challenge special forces’ rejections, even when they believed there was a strong case for resettlement.
The veto gave special forces decision-making power over applications at a time when a public inquiry in the UK was investigating allegations that SAS soldiers had committed war crimes on operations in Afghanistan where the Triples units were present.
A spokesperson for the public inquiry team told Panorama that it could not comment on specific witnesses but was “aware of the recent press articles about the Triples” and would “continue to ask anyone with relevant information to come forward”.
“A large number of Triples contacted us having been rejected in 2023, despite providing ample evidence of their work with the UK Special Forces in Afghanistan and the clear, serious risks they continue to face,” said Erin Alcock, a lawyer at Leigh Day.
The RMP felt so obstructed in their inquiries that in 2014 it formally requested the military prosecutor charge a high-ranking UK Special Forces officer with perverting the course of justice after he terminated an interview with an Afghan soldier regarding allegations of war crimes - a case which the Service Prosecuting Authority declined to take up.
The original article contains 1,417 words, the summary contains 251 words. Saved 82%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!