[An Australian academic who's still being questioned by Indonesian police in the northern province of Aceh has spoken to the ABC from the bathroom of the police station. Scottish-born Australian resident Lesley McCulloch who lectured at the Universtiy of Tasmania was detained with an American nurse and a local translator last week in Southern Aceh. Indonesian authorities claim the three were found with documents and photos from interviews with local separatists, and are being investigated for violating their tourist visas. They've since been moved to the provincial capital Banda Aceh, where they've been joined by officials from the British and American embassies in Jakarta.]

Presenter/Interviewer: Ronan Sharkey

Speakers: Lesley McCulloch, former University of Tasmania academic, from a police station in Aceh

McCullock: We're alright now, I can only talk for a couple of minutes.There's someone guarding the door.

Sharkey: Now what have they charged you with?

McCullock: They've charged us with violating the visa regulations, but they suspect me of something much more because they know that I write a lot about Aceh and they don't know what I write. But the lawyers are trying to help me and I understand that the Australian and the British embassies are negotiating in Jakarta for some kind of political settlement.

Sharkey: Now what's being reported back here Lesley is that Indonesian police found you in possession of some documents and some photos and some videos that you'd done with the Free Aceh Movement. Is that the case?

McCullock: They found no documentation on us. They say that they found GAM documents, that's not true. They found some handwritten statements that I'd taken from victims and people whose houses had been burnt, who'd been beaten, whose relatives had been shot, had disappeared etc. But that's all. There are no official GAM documents. There's nothing else. We don't have anything else. But they are trying to use some photos that I had, some old photographs on my laptop and prove that these photos were taken on this trip. In fact this is not the case.

Sharkey: So what advice are you getting from your lawyers in terms of whether you're gonig to be deported or whether you'll face a trial?

McCullock: They don't know. They don't have a written statement from me yet. The statement they took again yesterday I refused to sign because it was a bad translation. We've just today gone through the statement again. They've gone off to put it into the computer and print it off. If the lawyers OK that then I'll sign it. And then based on that statement there will be further interrogation today. But they charged us yesterday and they say they can hold us for 20 days for questioning. If they are not satisfied with the questioning at the end of the questioning, they can hold us for a further 20 days. So the lawyers don't know what's going to happen. They say for me it's a bad situation, because they suspect me of espionage or something similar. But for Joy, the American, they think perhaps she'll be finished in a few days because for her there's no proof of anything and they don't really suspect her of anything very much apart from the visa violations.

Sharkey: And is that what you've been charged with as well?

McCullock: I have, but the charge can change. I'm hoping, as they have no proof of anything, they're very suspicious but there's no evidence to link me to anything. So I'm hoping that with the lawyers and the statements that we've made, and with the pressure in Jakarta with the embassies, that we can get this process finished with as quickly as possible.