C2, who held a number of roles within the British authorities, shouldn’t be charged criminally however is in court docket looking for to revive his British citizenship, which was revoked in 2019. A muscular-looking middle-aged man with a trim beard, wearing a leather-based jacket and denims, he didn’t converse with the handful of reporters who attended the periods.
C2 denied to the court docket that he served as a Russian agent. Slightly, he served Britain honorably, he mentioned. It was harmful work. He claimed he survived a number of assassination makes an attempt.
C2’s attorneys allege that the U.Ok. safety companies supplied solely circumstantial proof that C2 was a spy.
His attorneys mentioned that C2 might have attended conferences with a pair of Russian navy attachés named Boris and Dimitri in Kabul, as alleged by the federal government, however that these have been simply pleasant get-togethers between males who favored to attend alcohol-fueled events in Kabul and share footage of rocket launchers and bare ladies.
Both approach, Britain’s assertion that C2 might have been a Russian spy is embarrassing to the federal government and its intelligence companies. Both he was a spy who labored on the coronary heart of British intelligence, or they’ve misinterpret the proof and gotten the flawed mole.
The outstanding case is being heard by the Particular Immigration Appeals Fee, generally known as SIAC, which is charged with dealing with secret proof, or what it calls “closed materials.”
Final 12 months, SIAC heard an attraction from the British youth Shamima Begum, the “Jihadi bride” who went to Syria to marry a fighter from the Islamic State. After she was present in a refugee camp in Syria, Britain’s then-Dwelling Secretary Sajid Javid stripped her of her British citizenship. SIAC dismissed her attraction.
In these circumstances, the judges have entry to closed materials denied not solely to the general public however even attorneys for C2.
The glimpses of C2’s life and occasions got here from the guarded testimony heard within the “open” parts of the trial and court docket papers, from sources resembling “FL” who labored for the companies however was not particularly forthcoming.
In C2’s case, the federal government safety companies assessed that he might have served as a Russian spy and that he posed a future danger to nationwide safety — and they also yanked his British citizenship. Nonetheless, C2 received out of Afghanistan on one of many Britain’s final evacuation flights earlier than Kabul fell to the Taliban.
C2 is in court docket to win again his British citizenship and keep away from potential deportation to Afghanistan or Russia.
C2 was born and raised in Afghanistan, the place his father was a profession navy officer. The Instances of London, which has been following the case intently, reported earlier this week that on his day of testimony, C2 mentioned in court docket that MI5, the U.Ok.’s home counterintelligence and safety company, accused him of being groomed by the Russians from age 5.
Within the Nineteen Nineties, C2 mentioned, he traveled to Moscow, crossing into Russia from Afghanistan with assistance from a smuggler. He lived in Moscow for six years, attended college there and married a Russian.
In 2000, with assistance from one other smuggler, he mentioned he was given a pretend Russian passport and boarded a flight to a Caribbean trip, with a stopover in London. At Heathrow Airport, he claimed asylum, saying he was fleeing the Taliban. He admitted he lied to authorities.
Regardless, C2 seems to have thrived in London. He labored as a translator, attended Brunel College and received an MA in intelligence and safety research.
Whereas an alleged Russian asset, C2 rose by way of the ranks of British intelligence, working for the Authorities Communications Headquarters, the nation’s intelligence, safety and cyber company, in London.
In response to the federal government’s transient, C2 returned to Afghanistan, employed by the U.Ok.’s International Workplace, as a cultural affairs adviser in a reconstruction workforce within the Helmand, Afghanistan.
In that publish he met with then-Prince Charles, now king, and Prince William, former prime ministers David Cameron and Gordon Brown. He was featured in a U.Ok. Protection Division information launch praising his work.
Courtroom papers additionally confirmed C2 frolicked within the make use of of NATO in Kabul. He went on to function an official within the Afghan Ministry of Commerce. Later he was concerned in oil offers.
His lawyer, Robert Palmer, instructed the judges that the Russians have been key buying and selling companions with Afghanistan; that his shopper spoke a number of languages, together with Russian. He steered C2 was a participant in Kabul, a hard-working hustler on the shadow world of wartime Kabul, on the embassy events and navy bases, acquainted with bribes and dealmaking — and that he may need suspected his Russian mates have been GRU handlers “however he couldn’t know for positive.”
“Everyone in Afghanistan was fishing for info,” Palmer mentioned.
In his closing arguments, Palmer mentioned, in essence, that the fishing expeditions included one by the MI5, who hooked C2 as much as an hours-long “alleged lie detector take a look at” after which instructed him that he failed it. Maybe surprisingly, one of many questions C2′s interrogators requested was whether or not he had ever met Donald Trump.
The lead choose within the case, Justice Robert Jay, instructed the courtroom it was potential for the tribunal to seek out C2 credible however he may nonetheless be thought of a risk to nationwide safety.
Rory Dunlop, the lawyer who represented the federal government’s Dwelling Secretary, mentioned bluntly that C2 had given the court docket “deceptive and implausible solutions.” He mentioned, “he has instructed a number of lies.”
