Officer arrested over Afghanistan secret leaks
By politics.co.uk staff
A British army officer has been arrested in Afghanistan on suspicion of leaking official secrets.
Lieutenant Colonel Owen McNally, 48, is reported to be flying back to the UK and the Ministry of Defence (MoD) has said the case will be handled by the Metropolitan police upon his return.
The officer is alleged to have leaked figures about civilian deaths in coalition operations to a campaigner from the Human Rights Watch.
According to the Sun newspaper he had access to the figures due to his work with Nato’s International Security Assistance Force (Isaf).
“We can confirm that a British Army officer has been arrested in Afghanistan on suspicion of breaching the Official Secrets Act,” a spokesman for the MoD said in a statement.
“He is being returned to the UK for questioning. The investigation has been referred from the MoD to the Metropolitan police and is now under consideration. No further details will be released at this stage.”
Last year Human Rights Watch said civilian deaths in Afghanistan from US and Nato air strikes tripled between 2006 and 2007.
If charged and convicted Lt Col McNally could face 14 years in prison.
