The campaigning human rights lawyer Phil Shiner, who was struck off as a solicitor for pursuing fictitious Iraqi compensation claims against the Ministry of Defence, has been declared bankrupt. The Insolvency Service website states the 60-year-old, who ran the firm Public Interest Lawyers (PIL) in Birmingham, was made bankrupt on Tuesday. The former solicitor could not afford to retain lawyers to represent him at the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal in London last month. Shiner had alleged that innocent Iraqi civilians who had been captured after the firefight had been tortured and murdered by British troops. Shiner admitted paying an Iraqi middleman to find claimants, a practice that is in breach of professional standards.

Source: The Guardian March 17, 2017 11:15 UTC