A British journalist has revealed a nearly two-year legal battle in the High Court over an unprecedented superinjunction that gagged the press from reporting on a major Ministry of Defence data breach. The breach involved the personal details of Afghan applicants for UK resettlement schemes, and the court order was the first of its kind brought by the government against the British press.
The journalist was summoned to the MoD building in December 2023 for a briefing, where they were handed a secret order warning of imprisonment if disobeyed. The confidential note disclosed that a dataset of names and personal details of Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy (Arap) applicants had fallen into the hands of an unauthorised third party, with extracts published on Facebook.
The government feared that if news of the breach became public, the Taliban could obtain the data, putting the named individuals at serious risk of harm or death. The High Court judge, Mr Justice Knowles, granted a 'contra mundum' superinjunction, meaning anyone sharing information about the order could be found in contempt of court, even if not involved in the case.
The case involved over 20 hearings and 1,000 pages of legal submissions, with the journalist fighting to lift the gag. The superinjunction prevented even the selected evacuees from being told why they were being offered sanctuary, as the government scrambled to mitigate the error.
