[link|http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml;$sessionid$DR5ZAPUGVOWVVQFIQMGCFF4AVCBQUIV0?xml=/news/2003/04/28/wfra28.xml&sSheet=/portal/|They are so finished]

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The documents regarding Indict show that pro-Saddam elements, "Iraqi and Arab brothers", gained access to the conference, which opened on April 14, 2000, at the Hotel La Concorde Lafayette.

Indict's attempt to mount a protest outside the Iraqi ambassador's residence was foiled by the authorities.

A month after the meeting, a letter headed "Role of Southern France" (sic) from Saddam's office authorised the finance ministry to pay $383,439 to undisclosed beneficiaries.

Perhaps the most damning document is from the Iraqi intelligence service, Iris. The service, known as the Mukhabarat in Iraq, operated as the domestic secret police and as an external intelligence agency.

Its role abroad was to collect intelligence, murder opponents and maintain relations with friendly groups. The document, dated March 28, 2000, is from the head of Iris to Saddam's office.

At the time the organisation was run by Tahir Jalil al-Habbush, number 14 on America's wanted list. The letter appears to be written by a different hand from one revealed last week purporting to record that George Galloway benefited from contracts under the oil for food programme. But it carries the same signature.

It states that "one of our sources" met the "deputy spokesman" of the French foreign ministry, "with whom he has good relations".

It claims that the spokesman from the justice and interior ministries had sought to find a legal way of preventing the Indict meeting.

The paper said it had been agreed that no Iraqi opposition leaders would be granted visas for France to attend the conference. It is not clear if Iraqis living outside the country were granted visas.

Although the conference went ahead, the Iraqis regarded moves to undermine it as a striking success.

A memo dated April 18, 2000, was sent to Saddam's office by the then foreign minister, Mohammad Said al-Sahaf, who later became the information minister nicknamed "Comical Ali". It is headed "The Failed Enemy Conference in Paris" and says that the French media ignored the event.

Miss Clwyd, MP for Cynon Valley, recalled various attempts at disruption.

Saddam supporters staged a protest outside before it started, she said, and at one point a bomb scare led to the hall having to be evacuated.

Victims of Saddam's regime gave evidence at the conference and filming was strictly forbidden because they feared being identified.

But someone smuggled in a camera and started filming, Miss Clwyd said.