Touting for business: UK law firm leaned on me to sue Britain, says Iraqi war widow
THE grieving widow of an Iraqi shot dead by a soldier has revealed how she was persuaded to launch a compensation claim against the British military.
Fatima Zabun Dahesh said she was approached by an agent who knocked on her door while she was still mourning her husband.
She said she was in a ‘severe grieving state’ and ‘desperate for help’ after her husband’s death in 2003 – and so she accepted his offer.
Her testimony is the closest proof yet that Birmingham-based Public Interest Lawyers, which uses the agent, touted for business in the aftermath of the Iraq War.
PIL’s boss, Phil Shiner, has always maintained that his firm has done nothing wrong during its relentless pursuit of taxpayers’ money.
But the practice of ‘touting for business’ is a breach of the solicitors’ code of conduct, whether it is undertaken by the firm or an agent working for them.
Such an act could result in the firm having its legal aid withdrawn and the solicitors involved being struck off.
Figures show there are 2,360 outstanding claims by Iraqi civilians against the Ministry of Defence from the five-year war. The majority of these are being pursued by Mr Shiner, who has made a career suing Britain with the help of legal aid. They include allegations of breaches of the Human Rights Act, claiming British soldiers tortured Iraqis and killed them unlawfully. There are also claims of negligence, in which Iraqi families are claiming compensation.
Since 2003, the Ministry of Defence has spent £100million on Iraq-related investigations and compensation, with £44million more earmarked for ongoing compensation claims from Iraqis up to 2019. And £55.7million has been set aside for the Iraq Historical Allegations Team to investigate cases up to 2019.
The department has paid out £21.77million in compensation to Iraqi civilians, and £11.5million in legal costs. It has also been forced to pay PIL £3million as a reimbursement of its legal costs.
One of the claims put forward by PIL against the MoD was that Muhammad Abdul Ridha Salim, who died on November 7, 2003, was unlawfully killed after being shot in the stomach by a British soldier the previous day.
The soldier involved, referred to as S011, said he shot him in selfdefence because he was carrying an AK- 47 assault rifle and he thought his life and that of his comrades were in danger.
An eight-month investigation into the death by the Iraq Historical Allegations Team found there was no evidence to justify charging the soldier with murder or manslaughter.
During an interview on a video link from Lebanon, Mrs Dahesh, the wife of the dead Iraqi, gave damning testimony about how the case came about.
As part of the Iraq Fatality Investigations in London, chaired by Sir George Newman, she was asked to explain how her case had been made known to PIL in Britain. She said she was contacted by a man named Abu Jamal, who runs an office in Basra, in Iraq. She snever went to his office, but a few months after her husband’s death he turned up at her family home.
In a transcript of her interview, with Sir George, she said: ‘Apparently, he overheard of the issue through the press and newspapers and TV and then he contacted me.’
When asked ‘what did he offer to do for you’, she replied: ‘He said that he was dealing with these kind of matters or complaints against the British.
‘At that time I was grieving and in a desperate state for help and support so that’s why I accepted his offer.’ Following the meeting he contacted her months later to say the matter was being dealt with by a firm of solicitors abroad.
Last night Colonel Richard Kemp, who commanded British forces in Afghanistan, said that by knocking on the doors of grieving family members in Iraq, it was encouraging people to lie about what happened.
He added: ‘British soldiers are putting their lives on the line. They are sacrificing their lives and many of them are suffering horrific wounds fighting for our country.
‘Phil Shiner and other people like him are doing their best to undermine this, they are enemies of this country and Mr Shiner should be investigated. In former days people like that would be treated as traitors.’ Earlier this year, a damning government dossier alleged that lawyers used an agent based in Iraq to trawl for cases and encourage local people to bring torture claims against the British. The Solicitors Regulation Authority is investigating Public Interest Lawyers.
A PIL spokesman denied touting for business. He said: ‘Abu Jamal was not known to PIL in 2004. PIL does not tout for business in Iraq or anywhere else.’
In an interview last month, Angela Stevens, a lawyer with PIL, admitted using an agent in Iraq who ‘delivers letters, arranges for the client to sign witness statements… and who also refers clients to us’.
‘Enemies of this country’