The British Defense Secretary has opened an investigation and apologized after the erroneous disclosure of personal data of Afghan interpreters who had worked for British forces and were seeking to settle in the UK. According to the BBC, the email addresses of more than 250 Afghans seeking to leave their country for the UK were mistakenly copied into a Ministry of Defense email, allowing all recipients of the message to see their names and photos, sometimes associated.

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«Saying you made me mad is an understatementDefense Minister Ben Wallace apologized during a question and answer session in the House of Commons. The minister specified that after this error, a second email was sent warning recipients to delete the previous message and change their email addresses. An investigation was opened and one person was suspended pending the results.

An error that made the English political class react

Several politicians have criticized the government after the incident, pointing to potential risks for Afghan interpreters who have tried to leave their country since the Taliban took power last month. “We told these Afghan interpreters that we would keep them safe, but this data breach unnecessarily put lives at risk.“Deputy John Healey, in charge of defense affairs within the Labor Party, the main opposition party, lamented on Twitter. He pleaded that the government “urgently step up efforts to bring these Afghans safely to the UK».

On the conservative side of Prime Minister Boris Johnson, Deputy Johnny Mercer also denounced in the same social network a “criminal negligence“Believing that he was probably going to force the artists to”change accommodation againIn a hurry to avoid retaliation. Since the launch of the UK ARAP program to bring local staff working in Afghanistan to the UK, some 68,000 Afghans have applied to leave.