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The UK’s former veterans minister has “provided further information” to a public inquiry into extrajudicial killings by UK special forces in Afghanistan, in a move that enabled him to avoid jail after he withheld the names of witnesses.
Johnny Mercer, a former Tory MP and army captain, shared undisclosed details in response to a legal notice compelling him to name “multiple officers” who alleged war crimes were perpetrated by soldiers against civilians.
Mercer repeatedly refused to hand over witnesses’ names and told the inquiry it was not reasonable for him to comply with the order.
In a statement on Thursday, Mercer said that his position remained unchanged from earlier this year and that he would not name any whistleblowers without their consent. “It remains entirely inappropriate to name those who confided in me without their consent,” he said.
He added: “For the avoidance of doubt: I have not and I will not. I will always assist the inquiry (outside of those parameters).”
An inquiry spokesperson said: “Mr Mercer has provided further information in response to the section 21 notice and agreed to assist the inquiry further. For the time being, the chair will not be taking further action.”
Mercer did not outline whether the personnel had consented to him sharing their details, while a spokesperson for the public inquiry said it would provide no further comment.
The former MP lost his seat of Plymouth Moor View in the July 4 general election. His application to withhold the names of “multiple officers” who alleged extrajudicial killings by special forces in Afghanistan was rejected this month.
The independent inquiry, chaired by Lord Justice Haddon-Cave, is investigating claims that the Special Air Service conducted scores of extrajudicial killings in Afghanistan in “deliberate detention operations” between 2010 and 2013.
Haddon-Cave has been taking evidence since the middle of last year and has heard from Mercer, military officials, and victims’ representatives including attorney-general Richard Hermer KC.
The chair warned Mercer that a failure to disclose names would be “a criminal offence punishable with imprisonment and/or a fine”.
In a statement published earlier this year, Haddon-Cave said Mercer could provide the name of witnesses in “strict confidence” and that the inquiry would conceal their identities and that they were protected from the risk of prosecution for a breach of the Official Secrets Act.
Mercer served in the British Army for more than a decade between 2002 and 2014. He was deployed to Afghanistan on three occasions, according to his witness statement to the inquiry.
Mercer told the public inquiry in February that he became aware through his contacts in the army and work as the chair of a parliamentary subcommittee of unlawful killings by UK special forces in Afghanistan.
He said that some personnel were asked to carry non-Nato weapons to be used as a “dropped weapon”, which could be planted on a victim to falsely mark them as a legitimate target.
The British combat mission in Afghanistan concluded in 2014 but some soldiers remained in the country until the Taliban took control in 2021.
Georgina Halford-Hall, chief executive of Whistleblowers UK, a charity, said the threat of imprisonment had a chilling effect and meant MPs, who are “proscribed persons” for the purposes of whistleblowing, would feel unable to provide support.
“We want whistleblowers to come forward and the armed forces have a particularly difficult pathway to navigate because of the Official Secrets Act,” she said. “People do not trust current safeguards.”