Human rights firm Leigh Day pursued claims against British soldiers despite knowing that its clients were members of a hostile Iraqi militia, the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal heard today.
In opening submissions to what is expected to be a seven-week hearing, the Solicitors Regulation Authority said the allegations brought by the firm over alleged atrocities should never have been made public.
Leigh Day and three of its solicitors are accused of bringing false claims that British troops ‘mutilated, tortured and killed’ Iraqi civilians. The firm, and solicitors Martyn Jeremy Day, Sapna Malik and Anna Jennifer Crowther, deny any wrongdoing.
For the SRA, Timothy Dutton QC said there is evidence that Leigh Day knew that the alleged victims were not innocent civilians, as they had claimed, but were in fact members of a militia group called the Mahdi army.
Dutton said the firm knew in 2008, around the time it gave a press conference about the cases, that one of its clients was a member of the Mahdi army - but ignored the evidence because it saw him as ‘crucial to the success of its claims’.
The allegations also referred to a key document that a Leigh Day solicitor had destroyed which the SRA maintains could have stopped the Al-Sweady inquiry into allegations of atrocities.
The tribunal also heard that the SRA strongly denies claims that it colluded with the government to target Leigh Day. The firm has alleged that the SRA bowed to pressure from the Ministry of Defence to bring charges against it.
Dutton said Leigh Day’s claims that the SRA had engaged in ‘dishonest collusion’ with the Ministry of Justice and Ministry of Defence were ‘demonstrably false’. As the profession's regulator it was ‘entirely appropriate’ for the SRA to have contact with relevant government departments.
‘The tactic of alleging some sort of government pressure being behind this case coming about may involve a lack of insight into the seriousness of what has been done,’ Dutton said.
The hearing continues.
Iraq claims: Leigh Day knew clients were militia members, tribunal hears
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