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Down Under

Haneef still waiting for inquiry date

2008-01-06

FORMER terrorism suspect Mohamed Haneef is still waiting for the date of an inquiry into his case before deciding on his next move, his lawyer Peter Russo says. Dr Haneef today spoke of the damage his arrest had caused his career and reputation, at a press conference in India following his return from the Muslim holy pilgrimage to Mecca. Wonder who paid for his ticket? Sky News said Dr Haneef had said at the press conference that he would seek compensation from the Australian government over his ordeal. "I'm hopeful of this because the damages that have been done to my career, my job, my aspirations, and my reputation is far too much," Dr Haneef told reporters. Dr Haneef today spoke at a press conference in India following his return from the Muslim holy pilgrimage to Mecca. Mr Russo said he had spoken yesterday to his client in Bangalore, and it was too early to decide on his next move. A decision on a return to Australia by Dr Haneef would depend on the timing of an inquiry into his case. "It's all pretty difficult at the moment for us to do anything until they announce the date of the inquiry," Mr Russo told AAP from Sicily where he is on holidays. "What everybody seems to forget is that it's not this government that has caused all the grief and they have made all the right noises, if you put it that way. "We don't want to be running off and saying things that would prejudice us in the future with any negotiations that we would have the opportunity to get into. They have indicated that there will be an inquiry and up until that point, we are a little bit stuck in relation to what we do.'' Mr Russo said he would speak again to Dr Haneef late tonight, Australian time. Dr Haneef was arrested on July 2 last year and 12 days later charged with supporting a terrorism organisation after his SIM card was linked to the failed Glasgow airport bombings in 2007. The charges were dropped a fortnight later but then-immigration minister Kevin Andrews had already cancelled Dr Haneef's work visa, forcing him to return to his home in Bangalore, India. The full bench of the Federal Court last month upheld a judge's earlier decision to reinstate his work visa, clearing the way for Dr Haneef to return to Australia. On Friday, Mr Russo said Dr Haneef was re-registering his qualifications with the Medical Board of Queensland, and that Queensland Health has said it will consider any application from Dr Haneef for re-employment. But he must first obtain a work visa from the commonwealth.

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India-Pakistan

Australian Court restores Haneef’s visa

2007-12-21

Indian doctor Mohamed Haneef, whose work visa in Australia was cancelled in July even as he was granted bail in a case of terror charge that later collapsed, is now “entitled to return” and “take up employment.” This was indicated by the new Immigration and Citizenship Minister Chris Evans in Perth, following a ruling by the full Bench of the Federal Court of Australia in Melbourne on Friday. The three-judge Full Court dismissed with costs an appeal by Kevin Andrews, Immigration and Citizenship Minister in the Howard government that lost the general election last month. Mr. Andrews, who annulled Dr. Haneef’s visa in “a character test” under Australia’s Migration Act, filed this appeal against Federal Court judge Jeffrey Spender’s order that in August set aside the visa cancellation. The crux of the former Minister’s argument was that Dr. Haneef, at the time of the “character test,” was found to have had an “association” with two second cousins, who were suspected to have been involved in terror plots in the United Kingdom. On a separate track, the terrorism charge against him, which was dismissed by an Australian court in July, centred on his mobile phone SIM card that he left with one of his cousins in the U.K. before taking up a job in Queensland in 2006. Upholding judge Spender’s ruling that Mr. Andrews had “misinterpreted” the scope of the “character test,” Chief Justice Michael Black said: “In a unanimous judgment, the Full Court has concluded that the ‘association,’ to which Section 501(6)(b) of the Migration Act refers, is one involving some sympathy with, or support for, or involvement in the criminal conduct of the person, group, or organisation with which the visa holder is said to have associated. The association must be such as to have some bearing upon the person’s character.”

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Down Under

Court overturns doctor's terror visa ban

2007-08-21

An Australian court has overturned a government decision to revoke the visa of an Indian doctor who was accused, but later cleared, of involvement in the failed car bomb attacks on London and Glasgow. The court’s decision was a bitter blow for the federal government, which has been criticised by civil rights groups and lawyers for its bungled arrest and subsequent release of Dr Mohamed Haneef in July. Also a blow to common sense. Dr Haneef, 27, was arrested in Brisbane, Queensland, in July and held for 11 days before being charged with “recklessly supporting terrorism” by giving the SIM card of his mobile phone to a second cousin, Sabeel Ahmed, after leaving the UK last year. British police have charged Sabeel, 26, with withholding information that could have prevented an act of terrorism. His brother, Kafeel, died earlier this month of burns sustained when he allegedly crashed a Jeep packed with explosives into the front of Glasgow Airport on June 30. Charges against Dr Haneef were dropped for lack of evidence and he consistently maintained that he gave away his SIM card so that his cousin could take advantage of extra minutes remaining on a pre-paid plan. Needed those extra minutes to finalize the terror plan. During his detention, immigration minister Kevin Andrews revoked Dr Haneef’s working visa on character grounds, saying he had a reasonable suspicion the doctor had an “association” with Sabeel and Kafeel Ahmed. But Justice Jeffery Spender ruled that Andrews made a technical error in cancelling the visa by applying a character test incorrectly. Justice Spender granted the government 21 days to respond to his ruling. Mr Andrews said the government would appeal. “When I made the decision to cancel Dr Haneef’s visa, I made it in the national interest and I stand by that decision,” the minister said. The government was accused of making him a scapegoat. What side are these courts on again? That's a rhetorical question, right?

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Down Under

Haneef decision due at noon

2007-08-20

INDIAN doctor Mohamed Haneef will today learn whether he will be allowed to return to work in Australia. Immigration Minister Kevin Andrews cancelled the former terror suspect's work visa on character grounds last month saying he had a reasonable suspicion Dr Haneef had "associated" with terrorists. He referred specifically to Dr Haneef's second cousins Kafeel and Sabeel Ahmed, both allegedly involved in failed bomb plots in the UK in June. Dr Haneef's lawyers have appealed the decision and at a hearing in the Federal Court at Brisbane on August 8, they argued for his visa to be reinstated so he can continue his physician training at the Gold Coast Hospital. They disputed the minister's use of the word "association" and questioned whether any relationship with an alleged criminal, even an innocent one, would be enough to justify a visa cancellation. Solicitor General David Bennett QC, told the court "association" in the minister's usage, was more like "mates" to the average Australian. He said not only had Mr Haneef given his mobile phone SIM card to Sabeel Ahmed when he left the UK last year, but he had borrowed money from Kafeel and stayed with the brothers for a short time. Following the day-and-a-half long hearing, Justice Jeffrey Spender reserved his decision until noon (AEST) today. Dr Haneef still wanted to return to work in Australia, his lawyer Peter Russo said today. Mr Russo said he spoke to Dr Haneef, who is still in India, last night. "The main issue is what he wants to do in the future," Mr Russo told ABC radio. "And it's his wish to return to Australia to continue his studies." However, Mr Russo said there were some issues with that. "The main issue is that he doesn't have a visa, but the other issue is that perhaps his family may not think that it's the wisest thing for him to do."

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Down Under

Haneef colleague to leave Australia tonight

2007-08-16

INDIAN doctor Mohammed Asif Ali will fly out of Australia tonight after his passport was returned by the Australian Federal Police (AFP). Dr Ali, who was recruited to Queensland from the UK, was last month questioned by the AFP over his links to former terror suspect Dr Mohamed Haneef. Dr Ali is currently being investigated by Queensland Health after he admitted to lying on his resume. Should be an automatic free pass to home. His lawyer Simone Healy told reporters in Brisbane today that Dr Ali wanted to return to India to see his controller family in Bangalore. But she said he wanted to return to his job at the Gold Coast Hospital. She said the AFP had returned his passport today and he had decided to vamoose go on the lam head home on a midnight flight tonight. Brisbane Acting director-general of Queensland Health Dr Andrew Wilson said Dr Ali would continue to be investigated. He said if Dr Ali chose to resign he could be required to serve out up to four weeks' notice. "We would require him to serve notice until the report into matters about his resume was finalised,'' Dr Wilson said. "Queensland Health has no power to prevent Dr Ali from leaving Australia if he should choose to do so.'' Dr Ali is currently suspended and will not be given any other form of leave while the investigation is ongoing, Dr Wilson said.

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Down Under

Australia deploys loudspeakers and sneak raids against terror

2007-08-02

Australian authorities on Wednesday revealed new anti-terror measures ranging from loudspeakers on city streets to plans to secretly search and bug homes and businesses. The proposal to give police unprecedented powers drew immediate criticism amidst concerns over the handling of a recent case against an Indian doctor accused of links to failed car bombings in Britain. Police and security agencies would be allowed to search the homes and computers of suspects without their knowledge and intercept communications under legislation to go before parliament next week. Police and security officers would be able to assume false identities to gain entry and conduct the surreptitious searches, seize equipment and plant listening devices. The suspects would not have to be informed of the raids for up to 18 months under “delayed notification warrants”, the Sydney Morning Herald reported. Senator Kerry Nettle of the opposition Greens party said an inquiry was needed into the bungled terrorism case against Indian doctor Mohamed Haneef before police were given new powers. “Now is not the time to be proposing extensive new powers for the Australian Federal Police,” she said. Haneef was held in Australia for more than three weeks and charged with providing support to a terror group in connection with June’s failed car bombings in London and Glasgow. But the case collapsed last week due to a lack of evidence against the doctor, who had been working in a state government hospital, and he was allowed to fly home to Bangalore. The installation of loudspeakers on the streets of Australia’s biggest city Sydney, meanwhile, was greeted more lightly by the media as a sign of the sort of citizen control employed in countries like North Korea. Dozens of speakers have been installed around Sydney’s central business district to tell people what to do in the event of a major emergency like a terror attack, the state government said. The complete system is due to be in operation ahead of the summit meeting of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum in Sydney next month, which will draw 21 leaders including the US President George W Bush. But it was not designed specifically for the summit and could be used to deliver a range of messages to people in the city, said Police Minister David Campbell. “If there were a terrorist event or a major building fire and there were people in the streets, this is a way of giving them information”, Campbell said.

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Down Under

Dr. Mohamed Haneef's curious chat room records

2007-07-31

Chat room talk behind Haneef's visa cancellation Immigration Minister Kevin Andrews says some of the information he used to make a decision to cancel Mohamed Haneef's visa included an Internet chat room conversation with the doctor's brother in India. Mr Andrews says he had been advised by solicitor-general David Bennett QC that he can release some elements of the previously secret information he used to cancel the visa. He says in the conversation, Dr Haneef's brother says, "nothing has been found out about you", "have you got permission to leave work?" and "tell them you have a newborn daughter". So, “nothing has been found out about you”, yet ... Mr Andrews also says, in the conversation, which took place the day before Dr Haneef tried to leave Australia, the doctor's brother asks, "when are you getting out?" To which Dr Haneef replied, "today." Why the hurry? Mr Andrews says he will not be releasing all the information at Mr Bennett's advice, due to further investigations both in Australia and overseas. Mr Andrews also revealed information on why he says Dr Haneef was trying to leave Australia on a one-way ticket before Federal Police picked him up. Hey, everybody flies with a one-way ticket these days. "He did not apply for leave from the hospital when he went to work at the hospital on the Monday morning and it was not until after he received two telephone calls - one from India - having been told in both calls that there was an issue about his SIM card, that he applied for leave that afternoon from the hospital," he said. A terrorism-related charge against Dr Haneef was dropped last week and he has since returned to India. I think Australia's Indian community needs to take a much closer look at Dr. Mohamed Haneef's activities before they continue to demand an apology. This guy reeks like leftover lutefisk.

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India-Pakistan

Haneef wants his old job back

2007-07-30

BANGALORE, India (AP) - An Indian doctor freed from jail in Australia after terror charges against him were dropped said Monday he wants Australia to restore his work permit. The jailing of Mohamed Haneef, 27, had aroused waves of sympathy in his native India, where he was greeted with a hero's welcome Sunday upon his return. Haneef met Monday with the chief minister of the Karnataka state, who offered him a job in a state-run hospital. But Haneef, speaking at his first media conference since his release, indicated he preferred to return to his work at Australia's Gold Coast Hospital. The hospital has said his job is waiting for him if he regains his visa. "I am saddened by the fact that until my work visa is returned I will not be able to return to work there," Haneef said. Yup, real shame. Better take that job in Karnataka. Haneef had been arrested July 2 at an airport in Brisbane as he was about to fly to India to see his wife and newborn daughter - just days after his second cousins in Britain were arrested in a failed terror plot. Haneef had been charged with providing reckless support to a terrorist organization because he gave his cell phone SIM card to one of his second cousins, Sabeel Ahmed, when he left Britain last year. Australia's top prosecutor on Friday dropped the charge against Haneef because of a lack of evidence, but the immigration minister said he will not reverse his earlier decision to revoke Haneef's working visa. Haneef's lawyer Peter Russo plans to appeal the visa decision. Australia's prime minister said Monday his government would not apologize for Haneef's treatment. "I don't expect any apologies from the Australian authorities or government, but they should apologize to this peace-loving country here and its citizens," Haneef said. Nobody said India wasn't peace-loving, and noone maligned its citizens. They were interested in you, pal, and why you gave your SIM card to your splodydope cousin. You're a bright guy, a doctor after all; think on that one for a while and it will come to you. Many in India believe that Haneef's arrest was racially motivated. Turns out that 'many in India' are dumbasses if they believe that.

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Down Under

Oz drops terror charge against Dr. Haneef

2007-07-28

Australian authorities today dropped a terror charge against an Indian-born doctor accused of supporting the failed bomb attacks on London and Glasgow. Mohamed Haneef, 27, had been accused of giving "reckless support" to terrorism by giving his mobile phone SIM card to a relative implicated in the plot. Australia's director of Public Prosecutions Damian Bugg said that, following a review of the case, "a mistake has been made". Mr Bugg told a press conference that he withdrew the charges because he was satisfied "there was no reasonable prospect of conviction". Mr Bugg said today: "In the circumstances of this case I do not believe that evidence to prove the case to the requisite standard will be obtained," he said. "On my view of the matter a mistake has been made." Dr Haneef has denied knowing anything about the British bomb plot, and told police he only gave his SIM card to his cousin so he could take advantage of extra minutes left on the account. Prosecutors had claimed that the SIM card had been found in the burning Jeep. But the case came under question after it later emerged the card had actually been found in a flat in Liverpool. Dr Haneef had been arrested at Brisbane airport on July 2 trying to board a flight to India with a one-way ticket within days of the failed attacks. He told police he was rushing to join his family because his daughter had been born a few days earlier by emergency Caesarean section. Dr Haneef's solicitor Peter Russo said today he would fight any move to have his client deported following the dropping of the charges.

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Down Under

Haneef may have been planning Australian terror attack

2007-07-21

* AFP finds "unusual" landmark building photos * Haneef claims ordinary tourist shots * Haneef, Ahmed emails now possible evidence POLICE are investigating whether Mohamed Haneef was part of a planned terrorist attack on a landmark building at the Gold Coast. Australian Federal Police are examining images of the building and its foundations found among documents and photographs seized in a police raid on the doctor's Southport unit three weeks ago. The AFP inquiry is looking at documents referring to destroying structures discovered in the raid, law enforcement sources said. The investigation also is examining information seized in the raid which indicated the Gold Coast doctor planned to leave Australia the day before or after September 11 - the anniversary of the terrorist attacks on New York. It is understood in his second interview with the AFP last Saturday, Haneef was questioned about photographs of him and his family taken in Queensland and overseas. Haneef, a registrar at the Gold Coast Hospital since September last year, explained that the images were only tourist shots. Investigators consider some of the photos seized are not ordinary holiday photos. The AFP investigation is also looking at information that Haneef was one of a group of doctors who had been familiarising themselves with the operation of planes at a Queensland premises. Haneef, 27, was last week charged with recklessly supporting terrorist activity by providing a mobile phone SIM card to his second cousins, Sabeel and Kafeel Ahmed, both of whom are being held in Britain over the failed terrorist attacks. Haneef's solicitor Peter Russo said he knew nothing about the investigations into the documents and photographs relating to the Gold Coast building or destroying structures. "He wasn't questioned about the majority of these matters," Mr Russo said. "A couple of other questions were asked ... but not in such a fashion that we could tell what they were talking about. "Obviously if you're Muslim and you come from India, don't dare take any photos of any structures ... or that will be interpreted by the Queensland police force of having a sinister intent." The AFP has been criticised for its handling of the investigation after it was revealed that Haneef's SIM card was not found in the burnt-out Jeep at Glasgow airport after the botched terror attack on June 30, as a Brisbane court was told a week ago. Instead, the SIM card was discovered eight hours later in Liverpool with Sabeel Ahmed, who is facing the minor charge of withholding information. Law enforcement sources said AFP agents have downloaded information from four computers in the library of the Gold Coast Hospital where Dr Haneef has worked as a junior registrar since September last year. The investigators are trolling through 31,000 electronic pages, most of it in Hindi. A senior source confirmed yesterday that emails between Haneef and the Ahmed brothers in Britain are now seen as possible evidence. An AFP spokeswoman said Commissioner Mick Keelty would not confirm or deny the allegations as the matter is before the court. Hours after being granted conditional bail by a Brisbane magistrate on Monday, the Federal Government cancelled Haneef's visa on character grounds. A hearing will be held in the Federal Court next month to determine whether he will remain in custody while he awaits trial. Haneef is currently being held at Brisbane's Wolston Correctional Centre.

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Down Under

Haneef visa cancelled, waiting transfer to Immigration Detention

2007-07-16

THE Federal Government has cancelled the visa of Mohamed Haneef for failing a character test, and will transfer him to the Villawood Detention Centre in Sydney to wait during legal proceedings. Haneef has been charged with supporting terrorism but was granted bail by Brisbane Magistrate Jacqui Payne today. "I am satisfied the (visa) cancellation is in the national interest," Immigration Minister Kevin Andrews said. Haneef's lawyer Peter Russo today said he would appeal the decision. "We will start the next battle. If that's the way they want to do it - bring it on,'' he said outside Brisbane Watchhouse. Mr Russo said his client had remained calm when he was told of the new development. "He's very respectful. He listened to what I said. I probably reacted worse than he did,'' he said. "I told him 'We've won a few battles and we will fight the next battle'.'' Mr Russo was scathing of Mr Andrews' claim that Haneef "had or has an association with persons involved in criminal conduct namely terrorism''. "I've been trying to avoid the political debate but maybe it's landed on my doorstep and maybe it's time I took them on,'' Mr Russo said. "He (Mr Andrews) obviously doesn't understand the presumption of innocence for him to make a comment like that when the evidence hasn't been heard in court.'' Mr Russo wasn't aware of the decision to revoke Haneef's visa until informed by journalists outside the Brisbane Watchhouse. He expressed frustration at the lack of communication from authorities. "No one has bothered to tell us anything but that's what they've been doing all along,'' he said. Mr Andrews said the matter of the visa cancellation was unrelated to whether Haneef received a fair trial. He said the responsibilities of Ms Payne, who granted Haneef $10,000 bail, were separate to those of the Federal Government. "The magistrate in Brisbane has a set of responsibilities which she has carried out and I am making no comment whatsoever on the magistrate or any decision made by the magistrate in Queensland. "I have parallel to that a set of responsibilities and that's what I've acted upon." Mr Andrews rejected the suggestion the cancellation of the visa was a face-saving exercise designed to prove the AFP's investigation and detention of Haneef had been justified. "This is simply a matter of me looking at the responsibilities that I have under the migration legislation and then making a decision," he said.

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Down Under

Aussies grant Haneef bail

2007-07-16

A doctor charged in Australia with supporting the failed car bomb attacks in Britain was granted bail on Monday. Mohamed Haneef, a 27-year-old Indian doctor who came to Australia last year from Britain, allegedly gave his mobile phone SIM card to two suspects in the British plot. He was charged Saturday and lodged a bail application on Monday. Spread the word -- Haneef sang like a canary! Police describe his support for the plot as "reckless" rather than deliberate. Police describe his support for the plot as "reckless" rather than deliberate, and Haneef's lawyer claims the case is weak. Magistrate Jacqui Payne on Monday granted Haneef bail on conditions that he provides a bond of 10,000 Australian dollars (US$8,700; €6,300), reports to police three times a week, and stays away from any international ports. Haneef, who has surrendered his passport to authorities, is scheduled to return to court next month. Government prosecutor Clive Porritt had argued against bail for Haneef, citing laws that say terror suspects should only be granted bail in "exceptional circumstances." The prosecutor said authorities were concerned that Haneef, who was arrested July 2 as he tried to board a flight from Australia to India, may flee the country. Authorities were concerned that Haneef, who was arrested July 2 as he tried to board a flight from Australia to India, may flee the country. Payne gave eight grounds for granting Haneef bail, including that the prosecutors had not provided evidence of a direct link between Haneef and a terrorist organization in Britain. Haneef is a distant cousin of Sabeel and Kafeel Ahmed, two of the chief suspects in the June 30 attack on an airport in Glasgow, Scotland. Haneef shared a house in Liverpool with the Ahmed brothers before moving to Australia for a job at a hospital on Queensland state's Gold Coast. Police allege Haneef gave his mobile phone card to the brothers in July 2006 when he left Britain.

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