THE US pastor who has provoked international condemnation for his plan to burn 200 copies of the Koran has been accused of using his own flock as slave labour in a furniture business.

A former worshipper said he worked 72 hours a week without pay for Terry Jones, who insists he will go ahead with the Koran burning to mark the ninth anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks on the US.

Mr Jones, pastor of the Dove World Church in Gainesville, Florida, runs a used furniture business with his wife, Sylvia.

While the pastor moves between two homes - a house in Slidell, Louisiana, and a holiday apartment in Tampa, Florida - his unpaid workers, motivated by their Christian beliefs, live in low-rent accommodation he owns.

Shane Butcher, who was expelled from the church for disobedience, told the Gainesville Sun he worked for the pastor's TS and Company for up 72 hours a week without pay, and meals were provided from a ''food bank''.