By Mark Nicol Defence Editor For The NEWSWALLA Published: 17:31 EDT, 8 October 2024 | Updated: 20:03 EDT, 8 October 2024

SAS anti-terrorist operations face being blocked by the European Convention on Human Rights, three Special Forces commanders have told the Mail.The veterans are campaigning for the ECHR’s Article 2 to be disapplied from high-risk missions led by elite UK troops against enemies such as Islamic State.They say the legislation – written into UK law as part of then prime minister Tony Blair’s Human Rights Act in 1998 – protects terrorists and puts our troops at even greater risk. Last night, Brigadier Aldwin Wight, who was the SAS’s Commanding Officer (CO) from 1992-94, said: ‘We have a duty to the soldiers we led, and to those serving today. They put their lives on the line, showed incredible courage in dark moments, but get harassed by lawyers for the rest of their lives.’  Jamie Lowther Pinkerton (pictured), who became private secretary to the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge after serving in the SAS, said: ‘I feel ashamed that those I commanded are being hounded over their entirely legitimate actions decades ago’ SAS anti-terrorist operations face being blocked by the European Convention on Human Rights, three Special Forces commanders have told the Mail (stock)The commanders stress their mission is ‘apolitical’ and say Conservative and Labour governments have ignored the issue despite the threat it poses to operational effectiveness and recruitment.Former SAS Regimental Sergeant Major George Simm said: ‘We have to back our service personnel, as they are fighting enemies who do not recognise any rules, they are terrorists who seek to exploit our values and laws.’Article 2 of the ECHR, written just after the Second World War, states ‘everyone’s right to life shall be protected by law’.But the SAS veterans say it was never meant to be applied to the heat of the battlefield.Another signatory, Jamie Lowther-Pinkerton, who became private secretary to the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge after serving in the SAS, said: ‘I feel ashamed that those I commanded are being hounded over their entirely legitimate actions decades ago.’ The SAS bosses say there are at least ten cases against SAS troops facing reinvestigation in Northern Ireland by nationalist law firms citing Article 2.The regiment remains the subject of an inquiry over claims its soldiers ‘murdered’ up to 80 Taliban suspects in UK custody in Afghanistan.

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SAS anti-terrorist operations against enemies such as Islamic State face being blocked by the European Convention on Human Rights