LONDON (AFP) – France colluded with the Iraqi secret service to undermine a Paris conference held in April 2000 by the human rights group Indict, the Daily Telegraph reported citing documents found in the foreign ministry in Baghdad.

The right-wing daily quoted a letter from the Iraqi secret service dated March 28 saying that “one of our sources” had met the deputy spokesman for the French foreign ministry “with whom he has good relations.”

The letter added that no French visas would be given to Iraqi opposition leaders who wanted to attend the meeting, which opened in a Paris hotel on April 14, 2000, the Telegraph said.

British Labour member of parliament Ann Clwyd, who heads Indict, told the Telegraph that she would demand an apology from the French government for its “atrocious” attitude.

The newspaper published an editorial on the case headed “France’s friends in Iraq”.