Afghan journalists partially win case against UK government over relocation

Decision on whether to relocate the eight journalists under ARAP programme will now have to be taken again

Eight Afghan journalists who worked for the BBC and other British media organisations partially won a legal challenge on Monday against the British government's refusal to relocate them from Afghanistan.

The journalists' lawyers told London's High Court in December that the eight, who are not in Britain, all worked "alongside and in support of the British government's mission" in Afghanistan, meaning they were at high risk of being killed by the country's Taliban rulers.

Adam Straw, representing the eight journalists, said the British government had "betrayed the debt of gratitude" owed to his clients by refusing to relocate them or allow them to enter Britain after the Taliban's takeover in August 2021.

Lawyers for the government had argued that none of the eight were eligible for relocation under its Afghan Relocation and Assistance Policy (ARAP) programme.

Read more: Collapse of Afghanistan's legal system is 'human rights catastrophe': UN experts

Judge Peter Lane said in a written ruling that the government's decision had been made on the wrong basis.

The government had considered whether working for the BBC amounted to working for the government, he said, rather than whether a journalist could be said to have worked alongside a government department, in partnership with or closely supporting it.

The eight journalists' argument that the government failed to give adequate reasons for refusing to relocate them was rejected, as was their challenge to the policy for granting leave to enter Britain outside the usual immigration rules.

The decision on whether to relocate the eight journalists under the ARAP programme will now have to be taken again.