The widow of one of the Balibo Five has paid her first visit to his grave, 35 years after the death of the five newsmen in East Timor.

Shirley Shackleton, 78, sat today beside the grave in a Jakarta cemetery which holds the remains of her husband Greg Shackleton, together with those of Brian Peters, Gary Cunningham, Malcolm Rennie and Anthony Stewart.

The five were killed on October 16, 1975, and their bodies burned after they filmed an attack on Balibo by Indonesian soldiers. Their remains were buried in Jakarta by the Australian government, and now lie together below a single black headstone in a well-tended cemetery.

Ms Shackleton, who lives in Melbourne, has campaigned for years to learn the truth of how her husband died. Jakarta has always maintained the five died in crossfire as Indonesian troops fought East Timorese Fretilin rebels.

However NSW deputy coroner Dorelle Pinch found in 2007 that the Balibo Five were executed by Indonesian special forces to stop them from revealing details of Indonesia's invasion of East Timor. Her finding sparked an Australian Federal Police war-crimes investigation into the murders.

Invited by Indonesia's Alliance of Independent Journalists, Ms Shackleton was in Jakarta to testify at a hearing challenging Indonesia's banning of the movie Balibo, which portrays the five being executed by Indonesian troops.

Indonesian government censors banned the movie last year, saying it failed to show an Indonesian perspective and it would strain relations with Australia. (Additional reporting: AFP.)