18 Dec 2010

WikiLeaks cables reveal blacklisting of Balibo Five official

10:24 pm on 18 December 2010

The latest WikiLeaks cables say the Australian government has quietly blacklisted a prominent Indonesian political figure implicated in the Balibo Five killing.

The American diplomatic cables, published by Fairfax media, say the government has declared Yunus Yosfiah to be persona non grata.

He was a special forces captain during the 1974 invasion of East Timor.

The New South Wales Deputy Coroner found in 2007 that Mr Yosfiah ordered and participated in the murder of five Australian newsmen at Balibo.

He became a general and an Indonesian cabinet minister in the late 1990s.

Assange blasts US secrecy

Meanwhile Wikileaks founder Julian Assange says he is worried about an attempt to extradite him to the United States.

Mr Assange, 39, is free on bail in Britain while facing extradition proceedings to Sweden on sex charges.

He denies the Swedish accusations, made by two women, and says the case is politically motivated.

He says the US is conducting an "aggressive" and "illegal" investigation into him and the website.

Mr Assange says he suspects an espionage indictment is being prepared in the United States and he's condemned the secrecy which surrounds his case.