MoD could have let gagging order be lifted last year

Judge says decision might have been made 'much sooner'

- HOLLY BANCROFT

Information that led to the Afghan data leak superinjunction being lifted was available last year, the government has admitted, raising questions over why the unprecedented gagging order was maintained for so long.

The major leak in February 2022 exposed the personal information of 18,700 Afghans seeking sanctuary in Britain, prompting an unprecedented court order banning any details of the leak from being revealed amid fears it would fall into the hands of the Taliban and put up to 100,000 people at risk.

It was finally lifted on Tuesday, after a review commissioned by defence secretary John Healey, which concluded in June, found that the threat of danger to those on the list was not significant. Now, it has emerged that Defence Intelligence officials, who advised the government on the need for the superinjunction, had access to the same information last year.