Staff from satellite news network Al-Jazeera staged demos across the Arab world today to demand an investigation into reports that President George Bush considered bombing their headquarters.

Al-Jazeera personnel in Doha, Qatar, and in all of the channel’s foreign bureaus stopped work for 15 minutes in a symbolic protest at reports that President Bush made the suggestion during talks with Tony Blair at the White House in April 2004.

The Daily Mirror, which did not identify its sources, said Mr Blair persuaded Mr Bush not to attack the channel, which the United States has frequently accused of anti-American bias.

The paper quoted one official as saying that Bush’s threat was "humorous, not serious," but another official was reported as saying that "Bush was deadly serious, as was Blair."

The White House called the paper’s report "outlandish" and "inconceivable" but has not denied the conversation took place. The Attorney General has threatened editors with the Official Secrets Act - which carries a possible prison sentence - if any further details of the memo are published.

Ahmed el-Sheik, the station’s editor-in-chief, today called on the British government to formally publish the "Top Secret" memo which summarised the meeting and was leaked to the Mirror.

"Leaving things vague is terrifying," he told the AP news agency. "The British government has to explain was it a serious talk or was it a joke. We also might go to British judiciary to get this document revealed."

During today's protest, Al Jazeera staff at the Doha headquarters stood outside their building holding pictures of Tarek Ayoub, the journalist who was killed in April 2003 when a US missile hit the Al-Jazeera office in Baghdad. The State Department said the airstrike was a mistake.

Staff also held brief protests outside their offices in Beirut and Gaza City, holding a banner at one that read "Bush wanted to bomb Al-Jazeera."

In November 2002, Al Jazeera’s office in Kabul, Afghanistan, was destroyed by a U.S. missile. No staff were in the office at the time. US officials said they believed the studio was an Al Qaeda base.

Mr El-Sheik said the newspaper report raised questions whether the strikes in Baghdad and Kabul were intentional. "It is very terrifying in our era, and from a country known to be leading in terms of promoting human rights, freedom of the press and transparency," he said.

Protestors also called for UN Secretary General Kofi Annan to intervene "to bring the American administration and the British government to explain their attitude to this matter."

Hussein Abdel Ghani, the Chief Cairo correspondent, said:"We’re asking the United Nations and the international community for this story to be investigated. It’s unacceptable to shut down freedom of speech. It’s crazy that the threat came from a country that we used to consider as a model for us in the Arab world."

The protests came as the Attorney General was accused in the Commons of attempting gag the media over the issue solely to spare the blushes of the two leaders.

David Heath, a Liberal Democrat MP, said Lord Goldsmith had threatened editors with the Official Secrets Act merely to prevent Government embarrassment and not to protect national security.

Geoff Hoon, the Commons Leader, insisted that powers under the Act were exercised with restraint but did need to be used on occasion.

Mr Hoon continued: "The fact is that the Attorney General has a legal responsibility ... it is one that needs to be exercised from time-to-time. It is done with great restraint. It is done only in certain limited circumstances. But it is an important power that needs exercising from time-to-time."

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