Bush and Blair facing mock 'trial'

Malaysian-led activists plan to hold a symbolic trial this month against former US president George W. Bush and former British prime minister Tony Blair on charges of committing crimes against peace in the Iraq war.

The Kuala Lumpur War Crimes Tribunal is an initiative of Malaysia’s retired prime minister Mahathir Mohamad, who staunchly opposed the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003.

Malaysian lawyer Yaacob Hussain Marican said the tribunal will convene a four-day hearing starting on Saturday to determine whether Mr Bush and Mr Blair committed crimes against peace and violated international law in the Iraq invasion.

Mr Yaacob said the effort is modelled on a 1967 Vietnam war crimes panel convened by philosophers Bertrand Russell and Jean-Paul Sartre.