Nigel Farage, leader of the Reform UK party speaks at an event in London, Tuesday, May 27, 2025. (AP Photo/Alastair Grant)

Nigel Farage has been urged to come up with evidence to back up his claim that some Afghans airlifted to the UK after a data leak put their lives at risk are “convicted sex offenders”.

The Reform UK leader made the claim after it emerged that the government had used a super-injunction to cover up the scandal for nearly two years.

A dataset containing the personal information of nearly 19,000 Afghans who applied for the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy (Arap) was accidentally released “in error” in February 2022 by a Ministry of Defence official.

The mistake was only uncovered 18 months later after a threat was made to publish the list on Facebook, potentially putting those named at risk of reprisals from the Taliban.

The leak led to the creation of a secret Afghan relocation scheme – the Afghanistan Response Route – in April last year.

The scheme is understood to have cost around £400 million so far, with a projected final cost of........

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