WikiLeaks is going to publish more than 500,000 Saudi diplomatic documents in to the internet, the transparency website said, a move that echoes its famous release of US State Department cables in late 2010.

"The Saudi Cables lift the lid on an increasingly erratic and secretive dictatorship that has not only celebrated its 100th beheading this year, but which has also become a menace to its neighbours and itself," WikiLeaks publisher Julian Assange said in a statement.

The Wikileaks Saudi government documents include extensive correspondence between the Saudi Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Kingdom's embassy in Canberra which reveals continuous Saudi efforts to influence the political and religious opinions within the Australia's Arabic and Islamic communities.

The released documents include the instructions from the Saudi government to its embassy relating to the payment of large subsidies to be made by the Saudi Ministry of Culture and Information to the prominent Arabic newspapers and media organisations in Australia and reference are made to cheques to the value of $10,000 and $40,000.

"Most world governments engage in PR campaigns to fend off criticism and build relations in influential places. Saudi Arabia controls its image by monitoring the media and buying loyalties from Australia to Canada and everywhere in between," WikiLeaks said in a statement.

The leaked material comprises of hundreds of thousands of pages of scanned images in Arabic text, tens of thousands of text files, spreadsheets and emails which have been placed in a searchable database.

WikiLeaks said that the leaked reports "provide key insights into the kingdom's operations and how it has managed its alliances and consolidated its position as a regional Middle East superpower, including through bribing and co-opting key individuals and institutions."

Julian Assange, 43, has sought asylum in the Ecuadorean embassy in June 2012 to avoid extradition to Sweden, where he will be facing allegations by two women, one of rape and one of sexual assault. The former computer hacker fears that the extradition to Sweden could lead to him being transferred to the US to face trial over WikiLeaks publication of classified US military and diplomatic documents.

By Premji