Shamed lawyer Phil Shiner sensationally drops demands to have a secret trial into allegations he smeared British troops
Human Rights lawyer believed to be behind the smearing of British troops will now have every detail of his trial heard in public
SHAMED “tank-chaser” Phil Shiner has dropped his demand for a secret hearing into allegations he smeared British troops.
The boss of collapsed Public Interest Lawyers faces misconduct charges, thought to include touting for business in Iraq.
He claimed to be too ill for a public hearing but his lawyers relented.
Col Richard Kemp, Britain’s ex-commander in Afghanistan, said: "This is fantastic news.
"It is vital the truth comes out after so many smears and lies.
“He has put so many in the dock, it is now his turn.”
The MoD’s Iraq Historic Allegations Team probe into alleged war crimes was swamped with more than 3,000 cases, including hundreds from PIL.
Shiner faces being struck off if found guilty of breaching the Solicitors Regulation Authority code of conduct.
The Sun legal team went into action last July with a challenge to Shiner’s application to keep the fact he had even been charged out of the public eye.
After winning that decision the SDT had indicated the rest of the hearings would be in private.
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But now Shiner has dropped that application after The Sun legal team piled on the pressure.
Shiner’s outfit PIL had launched hundreds of the 3,281 allegations of criminality by British forces passed to the Iraq Historic Allegations Team, the £57m probe set up to investigate the claims.
Of these 981 have been thrown out.
But IHAT is still looking at 1,558 claims, despite no one being charged for any crimes.
After five years of evidence at a cost of £31m to the taxpayer the inquiry found claims soldiers murdered and tortured Iraqi’s after a battle in 2004 were totally untrue.