Witness IIA126, R (on the application of) v Chair of the Independent Inquiry Relating to Afghanistan

Facts

The claimant, referred to as Witness IIA126 under reporting restrictions, occupied a senior military position in theatre in Afghanistan. He received and responded to a request for a written statement under rule 9 of the Inquiry Rules 2006 from the Chair of the Independent Inquiry relating to Afghanistan, a statutory inquiry established by the Secretary of State for Defence under the Inquiries Act 2005 to investigate allegations of unlawful activity by British armed forces during deliberate detention operations in Afghanistan between mid-2010 and mid-2013. He was represented before the Inquiry by the Witness Legal Team, comprising Government Legal Department solicitors and independent counsel, which then acted for around 150 former and serving military personnel, although the claimant advances the claim only for himself. By two rulings each dated 21 June 2025 and published on 24 June 2025 — the Approach Ruling and the Application Ruling — the Chair set out his approach to, and granted, a restriction order for so-called "Green Hearings", excluding the claimant and his lawyers from the Green evidence and hearings, and refused a lawyer-only confidentiality ring. The claimant sought judicial review on five grounds, principally that the Chair had acted unfairly under section 17(3) of the Inquiries Act 2005. Steyn J had earlier declared the proceedings ones in which a closed material application could be made and ordered parallel closed material procedures. Three interim issues came before Farbey J.