Whistleblower sacked for speaking out on withdrawal from Afghanistan takes UK government to court

Whistleblower sacked for speaking out on withdrawal from Afghanistan takes UK government to court
An ex-official at the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) who revealed Britain’s chaotic response to the fall of Kabul, said the civil service has become so dangerously politicized that officials who speak out risk being sidelined or sacked. (Shutterstock)
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Updated 04 February 2023

Whistleblower sacked for speaking out on withdrawal from Afghanistan takes UK government to court

Whistleblower sacked for speaking out on withdrawal from Afghanistan takes UK government to court
  • Josie Stewart, who gave an anonymous interview and leaked emails to the BBC about the withdrawal, said the civil service has become ‘dangerously politicized’
  • A former head of illicit finance at the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, she is challenging her dismissal under the Public Interest Disclosure Act

DUBAI: A former senior official at Britain’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office is taking the UK government to court test the legal protections for whistleblowers, amid concerns they are not sufficient to protect civil servants.

Josie Stewart, who worked at the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office and was sacked after turning whistleblower to reveal details of the chaotic UK response to the fall of Kabul, said the British civil service has become so dangerously politicized that officials who dare to speak out risk being sidelined or losing their jobs.

She told The Guardian newspaper that former colleagues felt their role was to protect ministers, some of whom were only interested in “looking good,” rather than working in the public interest.

Stewart, who was head of the illicit finance team at the FCDO, was fired over an anonymous interview she gave to the BBC about the government’s handling of the chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021. She is challenging her dismissal, based on the provisions the Public Interest Disclosure Act.

In her first interview since her dismissal, she said the government’s strategy for the withdrawal of its forces had been shaped by political concerns at home. Ministers were more focused on media coverage and “the political fallout” than saving lives, she added.

Her legal action adds to the pressure on Dominic Raab, who was foreign secretary at the time and who is currently fighting for his political career following allegations of bullying, which he denies. Raab was heavily criticized for failing to return home early from holiday in August 2021 when Afghanistan fell to the Taliban.

Stewart, who worked for two years at the British embassy in Kabul during her seven years with the FCDO, volunteered to work in the Whitehall crisis center when the Taliban took control of Afghanistan. One of her allegations was that ministers had not expected the British public to care about the evacuation of locals who had helped British troops amnd officials.

Her case, for which a final hearing is scheduled for September, could set a precedent for how the courts handle similar cases in future, including clarification of whether whistleblowers can avoid dismissal if they disclosed information in “exceptionally serious circumstances” and it should therefore be considered “reasonable” to have done so.

In her interview with The Guardian, 42-year-old Stewart said: “If the law is not tested and used then I don’t know how much it actually means, as potential whistleblowers don’t know which side of the line it is going to fall. Is what they’re going to do likely to be legally protected or not? If they don’t know, then I’m not sure how meaningful the fact the law exists is.”

Stewart, who now works for nonprofit organization Transparency International, alleged that the civil service has been dangerously politicized since the era of former Prime Minister Boris Johnson, and she accused the cabinet secretary, Simon Case, of failing to stand up for officials.

“I increasingly saw senior officials interpreting their role as doing what ministers say and providing protections to ministers,” she said. “It was almost as if their first loyalty (was) to their political leaders rather than to the public.

“Essentially people who said ‘yes’ and went along with it and bought into this shift in culture and approach were those whose careers went well. Those who resisted either found themselves buried somewhere or looking for jobs elsewhere.

“It threatens the impartiality of the civil service. The civil service is supposed to bring expertise in how to get things done. It risks that expertise being neutered by a slant towards focusing on things that look good rather than achieving impact.”

Stewart also suggested the politicization of the civil service had a dramatic effect on the government’s handling of the evacuation from Afghanistan. Moreover, she highlighted the government’s failure to draw up a plan to help Afghan nationals who had assisted the British, such as translators or contractors, but were not eligible for the existing Afghan Relocation and Assistance Policy because they did not work directly for the UK, to leave the country.

“There was no policy because we didn’t intend to do it at all,” Stewart said. “The only reason it came into life during the crisis was because the government was surprised to learn that the British people did actually care and did feel that we owed something to those people.

“Then they thought: ‘Well, people do care and we had better do something about it.’ So it was a misjudgment, politically. Hence the chaos.”

The crisis center received thousands of emails from desperate Afghans asking for help, which remained unopened until pressure from MPs led Raab to promise in the House of Commons that they would all be read by a certain date.

In January 2022 Stewart gave her anonymous interview and leaked emails to the BBC’s Newsnight program that revealed a decision to allow the animal charity Nowzad’s Afghan staff to be evacuated had been taken as a result of instructions from Johnson himself that overruled officials, who had said the workers were not eligible and others were at higher risk. Johnson had denied being involved in the decision.

The unredacted emails were accidentally published on social media by the BBC, revealing Stewart’s identity. She was stripped of her FCDO security clearance and subsequently sacked because, without it, she was unable to do her job.

Stewart’s lawyers expect the government to argue that the protections under the Public Interest Disclosure Act do not apply in this case because she was not, ultimately, dismissed for the act of whistleblowing, and they plan to challenge this.

An FCDO spokesperson said: “We are rightly proud of our staff who worked tirelessly to evacuate more than 15,000 people from Afghanistan within a fortnight.”

A Cabinet Office spokesperson said: “The cabinet secretary is proud to lead a civil service that works day in, day out to deliver the government’s priorities for the people of this country.”

A BBC spokesperson said: “We take our responsibilities as journalists very seriously and we deeply regret that the name of the email account was inadvertently revealed when the email was published on social media.”

A spokesperson for Boris Johnson declined to comment.


UAE looks to more engagement with India ahead of G20 summit

UAE Ambassador to India Abdulnasser Jamal Al-Shaali speaks to Arab News in an interview on Tuesday. (AN photo)
UAE Ambassador to India Abdulnasser Jamal Al-Shaali speaks to Arab News in an interview on Tuesday. (AN photo)
Updated 10 sec ago

UAE looks to more engagement with India ahead of G20 summit

UAE Ambassador to India Abdulnasser Jamal Al-Shaali speaks to Arab News in an interview on Tuesday. (AN photo)
  • Bilateral relations received boost with last year’s free trade pact
  • Now UAE is also focusing on people-to-people relations, says envoy

NEW DELHI: The UAE wants to expand ties with India beyond the economic spectrum, Abu Dhabi’s envoy to New Delhi told Arab News, as the two countries are increasing engagement during the Indian presidency of the Group of 20 largest economies.

Economic ties between the two countries received a major boost when their Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement came into force in May last year. The landmark deal reduced tariffs on about 80 percent of all goods and provided zero-duty access to 90 percent of Indian exports.

“The momentum has been great. We have had many senior officials coming from the UAE and from India visiting the UAE. We have had quite a few ministers visit. We have a minister visiting almost every month. And non-oil bilateral trade is now above $40 billion and the target is $100 billion by 2027,” UAE Ambassador to India Abdulnasser Jamal Al-Shaali told Arab News in an exclusive interview on Tuesday.

“We are keen on expanding ties with India in every possible way, so not just in the bilateral spectrum of things, but also exploring trilateral, multilateral venues ... you would see us being very active as well in the G20 presidency by the Indian government.”

While Saudi Arabia is the only Middle Eastern country in the G20, India, which is chairing the group this year, can invite non-G20 members to its processes and meetings.

The UAE is India’s special guest — alongside Oman and Egypt — and will also take part in the group’s summit in September.

The growing representation of Middle Eastern countries will result in a “higher engagement between India and the countries in the region,” the UAE ambassador said.

“Alignment in the G20 is important not only between India and the countries in the Arab world, but also among the G20 countries and among the countries that get invited,” Al-Shaali said.

The Indian government, he added, has “made sure that it has a different kind of representation in the G20 meeting than what we have seen in the past few years, and this further affirms the commitment that India has to the region and, of course, it has the region’s support in its G20 presidency.”

While economic ties between New Delhi and Abu Dhabi are reaching new heights under last year’s trade pact, the UAE is also investing in people-to-people relations.

“We are only just starting,” Al-Shaali said. “We are focusing a lot on people-to-people ties. We have just signed an MoU on establishing cultural councils, the second chapter of the India-UAE business council has been established as well ... we are exploring all venues; we are expanding in the areas both countries are interested in.”


Slovakia offered $1bn in US arms in trade-off for Ukraine aid

Slovakia offered $1bn in US arms in trade-off for Ukraine aid
Updated 49 min 55 sec ago

Slovakia offered $1bn in US arms in trade-off for Ukraine aid

Slovakia offered $1bn in US arms in trade-off for Ukraine aid
  • "If we don't take them, they will go to another country," Defence Minister Jaroslav Nad said on Facebook
  • Slovakia announced on Friday that it would donate the MiG warplanes to Ukraine

BRATISLAVA: Slovakia on Wednesday said it had received a US offer of $1 billion in helicopters and missiles at a discounted rate in compensation for promising to send MiG-29 warplanes to Ukraine.
“We were the first to receive this extremely advantageous offer. If we don’t take them, they will go to another country,” Defense Minister Jaroslav Nad said on Facebook.
“The value of this material is slightly over $1 billion... Slovakia would pay around $340 million over a period of three to four years,” he added.
The offer includes 12 new Bell AH-1Z Viper helicopters with accessories, pilot and technician training, along with more than 500 AGM-114 Hellfire missiles, he said.
He noted that the offer was notably in compensation for the fighter jets that Bratislava had recently promised Ukraine.
“So let’s summarise: for 13 old MiGs and a part of the KUB air defense system, we have an offer” from the United States, he said.
Slovakia announced on Friday that it would donate the MiG warplanes to Ukraine, the second NATO member — following Poland — to pledge the aircraft.
The batch will include 10 operational MiG-29 fighter jets and an additional three to be used as spare parts. The KUB air defense system is also Soviet-era weaponry.
Slovakia plans to replace the jets with American F-16s, and the changeover should take place no later than January 2024.
Nad said Wednesday that the US deal was also intended to make up for the delay in delivering the F-16s.
“Thanks to our responsible defense policy, relations with the US and also our clear support of Ukraine, we were the first to receive this offer,” Nad said.
“It should also be seen in the context of indirect compensation for the delayed F-16 fighters, where we have long demanded some form of compensation.”


Earthquake kills 10 in Pakistan, at least four in Afghanistan 

Earthquake kills 10 in Pakistan, at least four in Afghanistan 
Updated 58 min 32 sec ago

Earthquake kills 10 in Pakistan, at least four in Afghanistan 

Earthquake kills 10 in Pakistan, at least four in Afghanistan 
  • Epicenter of quake was 40 km south-southeast of Jurm district in Afghanistan 
  • In 2005, at least 73,000 people were killed by 7.6 magnitude quake in northern Pakistan 

PESHAWAR: At least 10 people were killed in Pakistan and four in Afghanistan as a magnitude 6.5 earthquake struck large swathes of the two neighboring countries on Tuesday evening, officials said on Wednesday. 

The Provincial Disaster Management Authority for Pakistan’s northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province said 10 people had been killed in the province and 62 were injured.  

“The provincial emergency center at PDMA, Rescue 1122 and district administrations are on high alert in case of aftershocks,” PDMA spokesperson Taimur Ali told Arab News. 

Bilal Faizi, a spokesperson for Rescue 1122, said: “The emergency phase was completed earlier tonight and soon the phase of relief and then rehabilitation will be initiated.”

He added that over 100 people who fell unconscious “out of shock and fear” during the tremors were also taken to nearby hospitals.   

The US Geological Survey said the epicenter of the magnitude 6.5 quake was 40 km south-southeast of the district of Jurm in Afghanistan’s mountainous Hindukush region, bordering Pakistan and Tajikistan. 

The quake struck 188 km deep below the Earth’s surface, causing it to be felt over a wide area. 

In neighboring Afghanistan, Sharafat Zaman Amar, a Taliban-appointed spokesman for the Public Health Ministry, said the earthquake killed four people and injured 70. 

He said casualties and damages were reported from different provinces. Two people died in the northern Takhar province and one child died in the eastern Laghman province.

A 6.1 magnitude earthquake in eastern Afghanistan killed more than 1,000 people last year. 

In 2005, at least 73,000 people were killed by a 7.6 magnitude quake that struck northern Pakistan. 


UK opens inquiry into unlawful killing claims in Afghanistan

UK opens inquiry into unlawful killing claims in Afghanistan
Updated 22 March 2023

UK opens inquiry into unlawful killing claims in Afghanistan

UK opens inquiry into unlawful killing claims in Afghanistan
  • Britain's government ordered the inquiry after lawyers brought legal challenges on behalf of the families of eight Afghans
  • Senior judge Charles Haddon-Cave said: "This is critical, both for the reputation of the armed forces and the country"

LONDON: A senior judge launched an independent inquiry Wednesday to investigate whether UK military police covered up or did not properly probe allegations of unlawful killings by British armed forces in Afghanistan from 2010 to 2013.
Britain’s government ordered the inquiry after lawyers brought legal challenges on behalf of the families of eight Afghans who were allegedly killed by British special forces during nighttime raids in 2011 and 2012.
Senior judge Charles Haddon-Cave said his team would “get to the bottom” of whether investigations carried out by the Royal Military Police were adequate.
“It is clearly important that anyone who has broken the law is referred to the relevant authorities for investigation. Equally, those who have done nothing wrong should rightly have the cloud of suspicion lifted from them,” Haddon-Cave said Wednesday. “This is critical, both for the reputation of the armed forces and the country.”
The inquiry into two separate incidents will also review whether the deaths “formed part of a wider pattern of extra-judicial killings by British armed forces in Afghanistan at the time.”
Thousands of British troops were deployed to Afghanistan as part of a two-decade-long NATO-led campaign in the country following the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in the United States. Many British soldiers engaged in heavy fighting with insurgents in southern Helmand province.
Britain ended all combat operations in Afghanistan in 2014, although a small number of troops stayed to train Afghan security forces until 2021, when the international coalition withdrew from the country.
Haddon-Cave said many hearings would have to be held behind closed doors for national security reasons.
Leigh Day, the law firm representing the families, said Ministry of Defense documents showed officers had widespread knowledge about unlawful killings by UK special forces in Afghanistan but did not report the information to military police.


Famous British Muslims show their support for anti-Islamophobia campaign in UK

Famous British Muslims show their support for anti-Islamophobia campaign in UK
Updated 22 March 2023

Famous British Muslims show their support for anti-Islamophobia campaign in UK

Famous British Muslims show their support for anti-Islamophobia campaign in UK
  • Launch event hosts a range of speakers from politicians to YouTube personality Chunkz
  • Initiative proposes enshrining UN-supported international day in law

LONDON: A number of famous British Muslims gathered in London on Monday to celebrate the launch of a campaign calling for the recognition in UK law of the UN-supported International Day to Combat Islamophobia.

The campaign’s launch, which was organized by the Aziz Foundation, took place at the Victoria and Albert Museum, and featured a diverse lineup of speakers, from politicians to creative personalities.

The UN General Assembly last year unanimously adopted a resolution designating March 15 as International Day to Combat Islamophobia. The date marks the anniversary in 2019 of the attacks on two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand, that killed 51 people.

And while Muslims make up five percent of Britain’s population, they are targeted in more than 40 percent of religiously motivated hate crimes, according to Home Office statistics.

Campaigners believe that enshrining the UN-supported day in law would send a strong message from the country’s government, which will lead to “transforming the public mood and creating a more equitable and inclusive society.”

Labour MP Naz Shah and Baroness Sayeeda Warsi, a member of the House of Lords, highlighted the entrenchment of Islamophobia in the UK during speeches at the event.

Warsi said: “It’s found in our streets but it’s also found in the most respectable of settings. It’s found in editorial newsrooms, think tanks, corridors of powers and around the respectable tables of polite society.”

Shah and Warsi conceptualized Islamophobia as being “rooted in racism, and is a type of racism that targets expressions of Muslimness or perceived Muslimness.”

Among others in government, they argue that adopting it as a working definition in the UK would broaden an understanding that Islamophobia is more than just an expression of religious prejudice, but also an extension of systemic discrimination.

The politicians’ comments were echoed by Prof. Ahmed Shaheed, a UN special rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief, who said that “you cannot challenge nor understand an issue until you name it.”

Shaheed discussed his efforts on building a global multi-stakeholder coalition to combat anti-Muslim hatred and Islamophobia. He criticized international governments for failing to condemn China and India’s targeting of their own Muslim communities.

Asif Aziz, the founder of the Aziz Foundation, was joined on stage by one of the biggest names on YouTube.

Chunkz, who has amassed 13 million followers across social media platforms, said that he has never shied away from being a Muslim and hoped to instill pride in his younger fans who share a similar background.

The YouTube personality added that while he has had a positive experience working in the industry, many female Muslim entertainers, particularly those who wear the hijab, felt pressure to compromise their faith.

He told Arab News: “Propaganda is a real thing.

“[Social media can] show how normal we are, and I say normal with quotes because a lot of people have probably got wrong information about Muslims and Islam in general.

“I think just being ourselves in itself is a good representation of how we really are in real life.”

Mariah Idrissi, who in 2015 became the first Muslim hijab-wearing model, underlined the importance of positive on-screen Muslim representation.

She said: “Art is such a powerful medium to get messages across.

“We see the impact of film, music, and fashion on the world without needing to preach or defend our way of life. It makes the journey towards peace more influential and enjoyable for everyone.”