Sir Ben Wallace, the former Defence Secretary, is facing questions over an alteration made to a draft bill that would have protected the SAS from prosecution. The change was made despite allegations of war crimes against the elite regiment and reduced the cut-off period for bringing a prosecution from ten years to five years. Senior government sources have revealed that at the time the changed bill was presented to Parliament, Sir Ben was already aware of the allegations against the SAS.
The allegations are now being investigated by a public inquiry chaired by Lord Justice Haddon-Cave. The Overseas Operations Bill was designed to protect troops serving abroad from ‘vexatious’ legal claims, however, it was criticised by former senior members of the armed forces and human rights advocates. The original bill proposed protections after 10 years for alleged war crimes, with the only offences exempted being rape and sexual violence. This “triple lock” of protections was then halved to five years under Sir Ben’s leadership as Defence Secretary.
Whilst addressing the change to the bill, former Conservative Attorney General, Dominic Grieve stated that the change “certainly raises questions”. Grieve has called for the public inquiry to examine the change as part of their investigation into the government’s handling of allegations. Lieutenant Colonel Nicholas Mercer, who was the army’s top lawyer during the invasion of Iraq, has called the alteration into question, stating that ministers “appear to have known about the allegations against the SAS”.
Responding to allegations, Sir Ben stated it would be “wholly inappropriate, and indeed disrespectful to Lord Justice Haddon-Cave”, to provide any comment on the matter. Despite this, Tessa Gregory, a partner at Leigh Day law firm, which represents the bereaved Afghan families at the public inquiry, commented that her clients would be greatly concerned if it were found that Sir Ben made the decision to apply the presumption against criminal prosecution to all offences more than five years ago instead of the 10 years recommended by his department. The Overseas Operations Bill was passed into law in April 2021
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