The UK Ministry of Defence on Thursday opened an independent investigation into allegations of unlawful activities by members of the British Armed Forces during detentions in Afghanistan.
«Today the Ministry of Defense launched a formal independent investigation to prepare a report into allegations of wrongdoing by the British Armed Forces during deliberate detention operations in Afghanistan,» the government said in a statement.
In this regard, the British authorities have indicated that these arrests would have taken place between mid-2010 and mid-2013. The inquiry will be headed by Judge Charles Haddon Cave, according to the text.
Last July, the BBC television channel broadcast the results of an investigation which pointed to members of the Special Air Service (SAS) as responsible for the executions of detainees and unarmed people in «suspicious circumstances» on Afghan soil.
The investigation was based on military documents and pointed to a unit of the SAS, made up of members of the special forces, who allegedly executed 54 people over a six-month period.
The investigation shows that internal emails suggest that members of the higher echelons were aware of concerns about possible executions, but failed to notify the Military Police, which is required by law.
The BBC itself and the ‘Sunday Times’ newspaper investigated in 2019 an SAS raid that led to a case in the British courts and an order for the Ministry of Defense to publish documents on how the authorities dealt with the case.
