The Editor
The Australian
16 August 2002

D.D. McNICOLL (15/8) suggests that pro-boatpeople types in the ABC ignored a report in The Australian (14/8) that Ali Bakhtiyari was unknown in the Afghan village he claimed to have lived in.

The ABC's website indicates that a follow-up to this story was posted at 9.41pm (14/8). While the ABC might be criticised for tardiness, it is not true that the ABC ignored the report.

Darce Cassidy
Friends of the ABC