Politician 'said journalists deserved to die' (East Timor 1975)

[struggle4progress]

February 19, 2007 12:08pm

THE inquest into the death of one of five Australian-based journalists killed in East Timor in 1975 has been told of a radio broadcast which said they deserved to die.

Four days after the Australian journalists were killed in the town of Balibo, on October 16, 1975, local propaganda broadcasts labelled them as communists.

Freelance journalist Jill Jolliffe, who was in East Timor at the time, told Glebe Coroner's Court in Sydney she heard two propaganda broadcasts from Lopes Da Cruz, the leader of the UDT Party, which supported the country's independence from Portugal.

Ms Jolliffe told the inquest that in the broadcasts, Dr Da Cruz said: "The Australians were communists, who were integrated into the Fretilin forces and deserved to be killed" ...

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,21248928-2,00.html