At last, judge dismisses Taliban bombmaker’s claim that cost you £1m

‘Lack of initiative’

A JUDGE has finally thrown out a Taliban bombmaker’s landmark claim for compensation from the Ministry of Defence, it has emerged. Serdar Mohammed had been unreachable in Afghanistan for three years and it was unclear if he was even still alive.

But British lawyers continued to fight his case, chasing compensation from the Government over his detention in the Afghan war.

Now the High Court has dismissed the long-running case pursued by law firm Leigh Day, citing Mohammed’s ‘baleful history of contact’ with his solicitors.

The Royal Military Police were also investigating the bombmaker’s complaints as part of Operation Northmoor – an inquiry into alleged abuses by British troops in Afghanistan.

But last night sources confirmed that complaint had been thrown out as well. Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson accused the convicted Taliban fighter of ‘abusing’ the court process and wasting more than £1million of taxpayers’ money.

‘We have always been clear that our troops were right to detain Serdar Mohammed, a Taliban commander involved in the production of explosive devices on an industrial scale,’ he said. This case should never have gone on as long as it did.

‘By failing either to engage with or withdraw his claim, Mohammed has abused the court process for more than three years and wasted taxpayers’ money.’

Leigh Day, which claimed the MoD had breached Mohammed’s human rights by detaining him for too long, was forced to admit at a High Court hearing last year it had not heard from him in a long time.

At that hearing Mr Justice Leggatt issued an order giving the lawyers an extension to find their client, also known as Mullah Gulmad, or the case would be struck out.

Now another judge, Mr Justice Turner, has ruled: ‘I am satisfied the claimant’s failures are serious and significant and the reasons given for his repeated inability consistently to engage with his legal advisers are inadequate and lack sufficient detail adequately to assist the court.’ Throwing out the case, he said there was not a reasonable explanation for the ‘repeated delays’ and noted his ‘lack of initiative’ could ‘threaten the progress of the matter to trial’.

In court documents seen by the Daily Mail, he added: ‘I am satisfied if this claim were allowed to continue it is highly likely its further progress would thereafter be bedevilled by further delay and disproportionate calls upon the time and resources of the court.’

Mohammed was captured in 2010 during a ten-hour firefight in which three British soldiers were wounded. He was detained for 106 days without charge before being handed over to Afghan authorities and convicted of terrorist offences by a court in Kabul.

He was sentenced to 16 years, reduced to ten on appeal.

He alleged he was tortured into giving a false confession and was released under an amnesty in 2014.

The MoD said Mohammed helped make explosives on an ‘industrial scale’ and was covered in bomb dust when he was captured.

Leigh Day had argued Mohammed should not have been held for longer than 96 hours under the European Convention on Human Rights, of which Britain is a signatory.

In July 2015, the Court of Appeal ruled in Leigh Day’s favour, saying Afghans were detained unlawfully, but the MoD challenged the decision.

The case then went to the Supreme Court, where judges ruled that troops had acted lawfully in holding insurgents for longer than specified under the ECHR.

But the case carried on because the Supreme Court said that in the specific case of Mohammed the MoD had to prove that his extended detention was for ‘imperative reasons of security’.

Leigh Day had previously claimed Mohammed’s case was relevant to a further 19 they were conducting linked to UK forces.

Last night a spokesman for the law firm said: ‘We are continuing to progress a number of claims against the MoD over allegations of human rights abuses in Afghanistan.’