Journalist found dead

A coroner in Sydney has ruled that five Australian-based journalists, known as the Balibo Five, were deliberately killed in East Timor in 1975.

The deputy coroner of New South Wales, Dorelle Pinch, said there was enough evidence to constitute a war crime.

She said two Australians, two Britons and a New Zealander were killed by Indonesian special forces to stop them exposing the invasion of East Timor.

Official Indonesian reports always said they were killed in crossfire.

For more than three decades, the families of the Balibo Five have sought to correct the historical record and to prove that the newsmen were executed rather than accidentally killed in the heat of battle.

Now, they have finally been vindicated.

The court found that Britons Brian Peters and Malcolm Rennie, Australians Greg Shackleton and Tony Stewart, and New Zealander Gary Cunningham were deliberately shot or stabbed.