A British High Court has issued orders stopping a former Special Forces soldier from releasing a book detailing the role he played in neutralising terrorists during the Dusit Attack in 2019, which earned him UK's second-highest military medal.
The soldier, who goes by the pseudonym, Christian Craighead, had announced his intentions to capture his account of events that transpired on that particular day when five terrorists stormed the Dusit D2 Hotel Complex in Nairobi and how he helped save several lives.
While issuing the orders, the British Court referred to rules prohibiting security agents from publishing sensitive information that can compromise national security.
“He has only been prevented from giving an account of an operation, the Dusit incident, in which he engaged as a member of UK special forces,” Justice Steyn said during a private hearing.
The judge explained that the court needed to take into account the interests of several parties; including affected Kenyan communities and the United Kingdom Special Forces (SAS).
“Those community interests entail the protection of lives, the protection of national security, the maintenance of the morale and efficiency of UKSF and protecting relations with defence partners,” she went on.
“On the evidence before me, the interests of the community substantially outweigh the claimant's interest in publishing a memoir about the Dusit incident (even when buttressed by the interest of the public in receiving the information he wishes to disclose, and by the interest of his publisher).”
The book titled 'One Man In The Explosive Firsthand Account of the Lone Special-Ops Soldier Who Fought Off a Major Terrorist Attack in Kenya' was expected to be published this year.
Nonetheless, UK rules strictly state that Special Forces troops are not allowed to discuss their missions in public or seek to cash in on operations.
These rules were introduced after two ex-SAS soldiers published books that drew attention to the special forces with concerns being raised over soldiers leaking sensitive intelligence.
Despite Craighead’s assurances that his book only detailed the Dusit attack, the justice system did not agree with his submissions.
At the time of the Dusit attack, the decorated soldier was in Kenya to train and mentor Kenyan soldiers. He was off duty when the jihadists launched their assault.
Craighead who has served in war-torn areas like Afghanistan and Iraq was among the first people to get to the scene where he played a role in the rescue of several civilians.
He arrived at the scene armed with a Colt Canada C8 assault rifle, Glock 17 pistol and combat knife.
“This guy got there quick, I think he was one of the first ones there. He had a mask on, but it was obvious he was white. We could see him talking to the police and army and they listened to him, they were looking at pieces of paper, maybe plans of the building,” Joshua Kwambai a witness of the attack stated at the time.
