British solicitors end file to compensate Iraqis: they are militias not innocent
![British solicitors end file to compensate Iraqis: they are militias not innocent](https://arcellabucket.fra1.cdn.digitaloceanspaces.com/media/archive/files/Archive.jpg)
A news report published by the British newspaper The Sunday Telegraph, mentioned that "the British lawyers ended files of their Iraqi clients who accused British soldiers of violating the laws."
"The well-known law firm is under investigation after ending the file that deals with British soldiers in Iraq."
The document had the potential to stop legal proceedings in their tracks − saving the taxpayer at least £27 million − but it was shredded by solicitors acting for nine Iraqi former detainees.
It appeared to show that the men, at the centre of what is known as the Al-Sweady Public Inquiry, were members of an armed insurgency militia, not the innocent farmers and students they claimed to be.
Although the document was given to the London-based firm Leigh Day in 2007, it was not made public until last year. Remarkably, it was then destroyed the day before it was due to be handed over to the inquiry’s officials. The Telegraph can today name the solicitor who arranged for the destruction of the document as Anna Crowther, who works in Leigh Day’s international and group claims department.