The powers that be are presently grappling with the problem of what to do with fundamentalist fighters captured in the course of one of the various conflicts east of Suez, some of whom have committed what would usually be regarded as war crimes. Today's Telegraph tells of two such who either have been or are likely to extradited to the US and tells us in passing that their family is represented by one Gareth Pierce, a name I remembered for representing nationalists during the troubles in Northern Ireland.
It turns out that Gareth is actually a lady, working for the firm of solicitors at reference 1, a firm which appears to specialise in helping people caught up in blunders or abuse by security flavoured parts of the state. With one of their units providing 'advice, assistance and representation to families whose loved ones have died in controversial circumstances involving the State and Public Bodies including deaths in: police custody, prison, immigration and psychiatric detention; police shootings; use of unlawful restraint; failures by public bodies leading to wide scale disasters, e.g. fires in publicly managed buildings or sporting venues; and, other deaths where there is an issue concerning a public body’s actions or omissions that may have contributed to the death. We also represent interested persons at public inquiries examining State misconduct'.
Sadly, we clearly need such people, just as we clearly need to have barristers who specialise in defending suspected criminals. I suppose it is inevitable that some of the people they end up helping are not very savoury.
Reference 1: http://www.birnbergpeirce.co.uk/.
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