UK places ‘freeze’ on bringing households from Afghanistan to Britain, court docket hears | EUROtoday

Families trapped in Afghanistan permitted for sanctuary in Britain have stopped being evacuated, the High Court has heard, regardless of the defence secretary’s pledge to honour the UK’s debt to them.

Afghans discovered eligible for relocation to the UK on account of their earlier work alongside the British are now not being helped to flee the Taliban-run nation, in keeping with legal professionals and caseworkers supporting these in limbo.

The claims emerged in a case involving two Afghans, who’ve been permitted for UK relocation and who’re named FRY and BNM1 to guard their security. They are difficult the Ministry of Defence (MoD) over the delays to their evacuation.

In a listening to on the Royal Courts of Justice on Wednesday, Tim Owen KC, barrister for claimant FRY, informed the choose that “on the face of it, it appears there is a freeze on relocations from Afghanistan”.

He stated the claimants “are being faced with a complete information black hole” with many of the authorized proceedings occurring in secret, the place the claimant’s authorized groups should not current.

Mr Owen pointed to an announcement from armed forces minister Luke Pollard this week that dedicated the MoD to offering assist and relocation for eligible Afghans in third nations, equivalent to Pakistan – however not from Afghanistan.

Resettlement schemes for Afghans to come back to the UK after the Taliban takeover had been closed abruptly in July final yr, simply earlier than a choose lifted an unprecedented MoD superinjunction used to cover a severe information breach affecting hundreds of candidates to the Afghan resettlement schemes.

In his assertion to parliament after the information of the info breach broke, defence secretary John Healey dedicated to honour invites already made to “any named person still in Afghanistan and their immediate family”, including: “When this nation makes a promise, we should keep it.”

He informed MPs: “I will reiterate the commitment we made then to process every single outstanding Arap (Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy) application and relocate those who may prove eligible.”

David Sellwood, barrister for BNM1, informed the court docket that his shopper had made his utility to the Arap resettlement programme in November 2021, was permitted for relocation in August 2024 topic to safety checks, after which had his relocation confirmed in July final yr.

However, the Afghan nationwide continues to be in Afghanistan and has not been evacuated. He is looking for to have his case joined with that of FRY in order that they are often heard collectively at a joint listening to in June.

The Independent revealed final month that hundreds of Afghans who had been doubtlessly put in danger after their information was leaked by the MoD are nonetheless ready to be dropped at security within the UK, greater than six months after the scandal.

Around 400 individuals who supported British efforts in Afghanistan and later had their private data breached by the UK authorities have been left “trapped” in Afghanistan and neighbouring nations, struggling to get out. Some 1,900 of their relations have additionally been left in limbo.

The newest figures, from December 2025, obtained by means of freedom of knowledge requests, present how UK evacuations are “working far too slowly when people’s lives are threatened”, campaigners stated.

Some 18,700 candidates to the federal government’s Afghan resettlement schemes had their private particulars and phone data leaked by an MoD blunder in 2022, which was solely found in the summertime of 2023 after a portion of a spreadsheet was shared on social media.

The discovery of the error sparked one of the crucial extraordinary secret authorities operations in fashionable historical past over fears that as much as 100,000 lives had been at risk. An unprecedented gagging order was used to cowl up the breach, with affected households solely discovering the hazard they’d doubtlessly been put in when the superinjunction was lifted in July final yr.

The MoD has been contacted for remark.