LONDON, Feb 28: The British government said on Saturday it would not disclose a key report on the legality of the Iraq war, as requested by the opposition and anti-war militants , citing a "long-standing convention that advice to governments in office is not disclosed".

The announcement came shortly after Greenpeace asked for the confidential report by Attorney General Peter Goldsmith to be published. Fourteen activists from the environmental organisation are due to go on trial next month for actions opposing the war and Goldsmith's report could be vital for their defence.

"We have written to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) asking it for the attorney general's full advice to the government on the legality of the war," said a spokesman for Greenpeace.

"We have given the CPS 24 hours to produce the full advice. Otherwise we will renew the request for the advice in court on the first day of the trial, set for March 9."

Greenpeace said lawyers for the activists - who are due to go on trial for illegally entering a British military base in February last year, in the run-up to the war - would prove their protest was justified by the need to avoid loss of life in Iraq.

But a spokesman for Prime Minister Tony Blair later said: "The attorney general's advice remains confidential because of the long-standing convention that advice to governments in office is not disclosed."

Greenpeace's request comes only days after charges of breaching the Official Secrets Act were dropped against a British intelligence translator who leaked plans of an apparent United States "dirty tricks" campaign targeting United Nations Security Council members in the run-up to the Iraq war.-AFP