An Afghan-born man, whose British citizenship was revoked after accusations of being a Russian intelligence agent, lost his appeal on Friday to have his citizenship reinstated at a London tribunal.
The man, identified only as C2 to protect his identity, claimed he worked for Britain’s Foreign Office and the security agency GCHQ.
His citizenship was removed in 2019 following Britain’s assessment that he was an agent for Russia’s military intelligence service, known as the GRU.
During his tenure in Afghanistan in the late 2000s, C2 said he frequently accompanied high-level officials and royalty, including the future King Charles and then-prime minister David Cameron, who is now the foreign minister.
Government lawyers argued in a February hearing that C2 had been trained to be a Russian agent since childhood, a claim he strongly denied.
C2’s legal team asked the Special Immigration Appeals Commission (SIAC), which handles appeals against citizenship removal on national security grounds, to rule that he was not a GRU agent.
However, SIAC dismissed C2’s appeal on Friday. In a written ruling, they stated that the British officials’ “assessment, on advice, that C2 was an agent of the GRU as at September 2019 is amply justified.”
C2’s lawyer, Shirin Marker, expressed disappointment with the ruling, stating: “C2 is deeply disappointed with the judgment.
He has attempted at all times to provide a full and transparent account of his life, in the face of appeal proceedings in which he has been given the barest of detail about the allegations against him.
To date, he still does not understand the basis for these allegations and he disputes their substance. He is considering his legal options going forwards.”