The High Court has extended an injunction preventing a former member of the SAS from publishing a book about his role in a counter-terrorism operation, following an application by the Ministry of Defence (MoD). The block will remain in place until the conclusion of a government legal action against the soldier, known only by the pseudonym Christian Craighead.
Background and medal
Craighead received the Conspicuous Gallantry Cross, a medal one level below the Victoria Cross, for his involvement in an incident after an al-Shabaab attack in Nairobi, Kenya, in 2019, in which 21 people died. He claims to have saved more than 700 people from a hotel complex after armed militants launched an assault.
MoD's legal claim
The MoD claims that Craighead's book contains an alleged breach of a confidentiality contract he signed on joining the UK's special forces. An interim injunction was issued this month, and government barristers returned to the high court on Thursday to ask for it to be extended until the legal claim is resolved.
Oliver Sanders KC, for the MoD, told the court in London that the claim of breach was “straightforward and really unarguable”. The book has been published in the US, but Sanders said this was not relevant because “the only reason it is available overseas is through the defendant’s own wrongdoing”.
Court ruling
Craighead did not appear in court and was not represented. In a ruling extending the injunction, Mr Justice Saini said Craighead “willingly entered into” the contractual agreement and was “clearly and consistently told by his superiors” that he would not be permitted to publish the book. The judge said the MoD had an “overwhelming case for an injunction” and that Craighead appeared to have committed a “flagrant breach” of the contract, which he did “having his eyes open to the potential consequences”.
Craighead lost a legal challenge against the MoD in 2023 after it refused to allow the book's publication, citing national security concerns. He joined the armed forces in 1992 and served in the special forces from 2006 to 2020.
Contract details
The court was previously told that Craighead signed an agreement preventing him from disclosing information about his time in the SAS. The contract stated he would give a “solemn undertaking binding me for the rest of my life” not to disclose information without “express prior authority in writing” from the MoD, which has not been given for the book.
Sanders said: “If he had not signed the contract, he would not have served in the UK special forces. He would not have been in Nairobi; he would not have had the training, the equipment, the weapons, the support. While he does not like it, this is what he agreed, and as a matter of contract law it is very, very straightforward.”
