The United States put pressure on Australia to place one of Saddam Hussein's top biological weapons scientists at Victoria University in Melbourne, according to intercepted WikiLeaks cables.
The federal government rejected the March 2008 request, citing "a range of compelling security, immigration and legal reasons".
A cable sent from the US embassy in Canberra in March last year confirmed that Professor Ali al-Za'ag, a microbiologist and genetic engineer, would not be accepted into the country, Fairfax newspapers reported on Monday.
US officials requested he be granted a visa under a US State Department program to provide jobs for Iraqi weapons of mass destruction experts.
The embassy cables, obtained by WikiLeaks, refer to Professor al-Za'ag as "the former biological weapons scientist during Saddam Hussein's regime".
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