London, July 26 - The website of Australia's biggest film festival was hacked into after a Chinese diplomat called to complain about the screening of a film about exiled Uighur leader Rebiya Kadeer, the BBC reported Sunday.

Melbourne International Film Festival head Richard Moore told BBC radio that the website was hacked into just after a Chinese consular official called to demand the withdrawal of a documentary film about Kadeer, who belongs to the predominantly-Muslim Uighur minority.

Content on the website was briefly replaced with the Chinese flag and anti-Kadeer slogans Saturday, he said, adding Beijing has withdrawn five films from the festival in protest.

The Chinese government accuses Kadeer, the subject of 'Ten Conditions of Love' by Australian filmmaker Jeff Daniels, of inciting riots between Uighurs and Han settlers that swept Urumqi, the capital of Xinjiang province, earlier this month.

Kadeer, who lives in the US after spending six years in a Chinese jail, denies the charge.