Mark Dodd, Dili – A former member of the independence movement Fretilin, Dr Abilio Araujo, expelled for his links with Indonesia, has returned to East Timor after 26 years' self-imposed exile in Portugal to contest the election on August 30.

Before Dr Araujo was expelled from Fretilin he was a minister for economic and social affairs in the short-lived 1975 Democratic Republic of East Timor. He now heads the Timorese Nationalist Party, founded in 1999 with the support of local pro-integration leaders.

The party maintains close links with the Popular Council for the Defence of the Democratic Republic of East Timor, a movement the United Nations mission has warned could provoke trouble in the election period.

Dr Araujo, who was accused earlier this year of still having links with anti-independence elements in Indonesia's military, was also an associate of former president Soeharto's daughter Siti Hardiyanti Tutut Rukmana. But in an interview with the Suara Timor Lorosae (Voice of East Timor) newspaper on Friday he said he now supported independence and democracy for East Timor. He admitted close links with Indonesian military and political leaders, but said he was able to use his association to pressure for the release of East Timorese independence activists imprisoned by Jakarta.

"During the Indonesian occupation I often came to East Timor to monitor the human rights abuses and visited those who were detained and put in prison by Indonesia. I made an attempt to help them and get them out of prison."

That claim is queried by East Timor's main human rights group, Yayasan-HAK. A spokesman, Mr Joaquim Fonseca, said any access to political prisoners would have required close co-operation with Indonesian military intelligence. "We are not aware of any prisoner release at the time as a result of efforts by Dr Araujo or anyone else."