Sydney – An Australian journalist has been arrested in East Timor, accused of subversion and threatened with expulsion, an international press freedom organization said Tuesday.

The claim by the group Reporters Without Borders came just a week after the Paris-based group lauded the fledgling nation for having one of Asia's freest presses.

Attacks on journalists are "extremely rare" in the former Indonesian province, and the country's press legislation is "among the most liberal in Asia," the group said last week.

But the same press watchdog expressed concern Tuesday over East Timor's treatment of freelance investigative reporter Julian King, 43, who was held for two days after his arrest in the capital, Dili, on May 6, it said.

King, a former correspondent with the Reuters news agency who now works regularly for Australian television channels, has lived in the country for four years.

Reporters Without Borders said police claimed to have found firearms at King's home during a search. They seized files, including a United Nations report on corruption in East Timor, it said.

King initially was told his residency papers were not in order and was then threatened with legal action for possessing weapons and for "subversion."

King has denied all the accusations. "I certainly don't own any bullets and I am certainly not out to destabilize the government," Reporters Without Borders quoted him as saying.