International activists and lawyers involved in the defense of Saddam Hussein say they will hold a mock trial of George Bush, the US president, and the British and Israeli prime ministers for alleged war crimes committed in Iraq and the Palestinian territories.

The prosecution will be headed by Ramsey Clark, the former US attorney-general, who sits on Saddam's defense team, according to one of the organizers.

The two-day event, set to open on Friday in the Egyptian capital, will be sponsored by the Cairo-based Federation of Arab Lawyers.

It will bring together international lawyers and human rights activists including Ahmed Ben Bella, the former Algerian president, and ex-Malaysian leader Mahathir Mohamad ( a noted Anti-semite).

Ziad Khasawna, the federation's assistant secretary-general and once Saddam Hussein's chief lawyer, said Nelson Mandela, the former South African leader and anti-apartheid icon, had accepted an invitation to be the chief judge if his health allows him to travel.

...What was important was offering Iran a package of "carrots" that would include a US pledge not to attack Iran as well as trade and other economic incentives, some of which the Europeans offered.

The United States has offered North Korea a written promise not to attack it, and a similar offer should be extended to Iran, he said.

Before the US-led war in Iraq, Blix oversaw more than 700 inspections in search of weapons of mass destruction that came up empty.