Dili – East Timor President Jose Ramos-Horta has defended his decision to pardon rebels in the tiny nation following criticism by a UN envoy.

The UN special representative for East Timor, Ameerah Haq, raised concerns earlier this week about policing and the commuting of prison terms for some involved in unrest.

Haq expressed her concern to Ramos-Horta after he freed those jailed for attacks against him and the prime minister in February 2008 as well as soldiers convicted for killing eight police officers in 2006.

"I pardoned them based on humanitarian grounds. After assessing the circumstances that occurred in 2006, this young nation has many victims and they (those being pardoned) are also victims," Ramos-Horta said.

"It was not their wish to do such thing. They had protested and we had no chance for a solution at the time," he said of the assassination attempt against him.

Ramos-Horta said since he made the decision to pardon them, there had been peace and order in the country. "Our constitution says that we have to consider circumstances, so we want to give justice to our specific situation," he added.

Haq previously told the Security Council that public confidence in the state's willingness to support the rule of law and human rights could be "adversely affected" if the public perceived that individuals in high profile cases received favourable treatment.

Despite her praise for East Timor's general stability, she said she was "troubled" that three soldiers involved in the 2006 killings appeared to have resumed work.

The UN has been seeking to wind down its peacekeeping mission in East Timor, where international troops and police were sent after major unrest in 2006.

East Timor, a former Portuguese colony, gained formal independence in 2002 after a brutal 24-year occupation by Indonesia.