LONDON: A whistleblower in the UK who was sacked after drawing attention to the failures of the Afghanistan withdrawal has criticized attempts by the government to make her legal challenge private, The Guardian reported on Saturday.
Josie Stewart, a former senior official of the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, was sacked after providing the BBC with anonymous comments criticizing the government’s handling of the Afghanistan withdrawal in 2021.
She launched a legal challenge over the sacking, taking her case to an employment tribunal in an attempt to test the legal protection of whistleblowers in Britain.
However, the government is seeking to hold the case in private based on national security concerns, with Stewart and her lawyers earlier this week attending a preliminary hearing to decide the status of the legal challenge, set for September.
Stewart, using the CrowdJustice website that crowdfunds legal action, said: “This hearing was listed in order to hear and decide upon (the) government’s rule 94 (national security proceedings) application.
“As the hearing was held in private, frustratingly I am not able to share anything that was said. A Guardian reporter whom I met at reception (and) who had turned up to cover the hearing, was turned away.
“What I can say is that we will receive...
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