In a letter obtained by the Independent Inquiry relating to Afghanistan, it was revealed that a senior Ministry of Defence (MoD) official privately acknowledged that allegations to be aired in a BBC Panorama on alleged SAS war crimes were “broadly accurate”. Despite this warning, the MoD publicly responded in 2019 to deny the claims of the British broadcaster, stating that Royal Military Police investigations into the alleged war crimes had resulted in no prosecutions. The Independent Inquiry is examining whether there is credible evidence that the SAS unlawfully killed people on night raids in Afghanistan.
The internal MoD documents cited in court on Monday confirmed that, although the department concluded that there were “broadly accurate” allegations in the letter from the BBC, officials were instructed to “continue to resist allegations of widespread systemic abuse and criminal behaviour” and “should rebut Panorama’s allegations about investigations and decisions being improperly influenced”. The request from the BBC related to allegations that the SAS had repeatedly killed unarmed detainees and civilians on night raids in Afghanistan, as well as allegations that investigations into the alleged killings had been improperly closed down.
In addition, it was disclosed in court that a classified memo written by a senior member of UK Special Forces was read by the then-secretary of defence, Sir Ben Wallace, prior to being signed off as a response to the BBC’s request for comment. The memo, written in April 2011, suggested that there was “an unofficial policy” among SAS squadrons to kill any fighting-age Afghan male during a raid “regardless of the immediate threat they pose to our troops”. It further alleged that “in some instances this has involved the deliberate killing of individuals after they have been restrained by (the SAS) and the subsequent fabrication of evidence to suggest a lawful killing in self-defence.”
The BBC recently reported that one SAS unit had unlawfully killed 54 people in in one six-month tour. Senior officers from the Royal Military Police’s Northmoor team have also told the broadcaster that their investigation was closed prematurely, despite the team having obtained credible evidence suggesting that the UK Special Forces committed extrajudicial killings in Afghanistan
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