The family of a Derry solicitor who has been appointed as one of Saddam Hussein's defence team when the former Iraqi dictator goes on trial in Baghdad next Wednesday charged with crimes against humanity said yesterday they were surprised by the appointment.
Des Doherty (43), whose legal firm is in Clarendon Street in Derry, has been involved in several high-profile inquiries in Ireland in recent years.
At the Saville inquiry he represented the family of Barney McGuigan, one of the 13 unarmed civilians who were shot dead by British army paratroopers in the Bogside area of Derry on Bloody Sunday in January 1972.
He also represented Laurence Rush at the inquiry into the 1998 Omagh bombing in which Mr Rush's wife, Libbi, was one of 28 people killed when a bomb exploded in the Co Tyrone town.
At the Barron inquiry Mr Doherty represents the families of three of the 33 people killed in the 1974 Dublin-Monaghan bombings.
He also represents the family of Raychel Ferguson, whose death in a Northern Ireland hospital was one of four controversial deaths of children which were investigated by barrister John O'Hara.