UK gave us wrong info on Haneef: Australia

[struggle4progress]

Source: Press Trust of India

Melbourne
July 29, 2007

~snip~ "The British police initially told Australian investigators that Haneef's mobile phone SIM card had been found inside a jeep allegedly used by his second cousin Kafeel Ahmed in a failed car bombing in Glasgow on June 30," Keelty was quoted as saying by The Sydney Morning Herald. ~snip~

On Immigration Minister Kevin Andrews's intervention in the case, Keelty said: "You can't blame Andrews (who cancelled Haneef's visa).He acted on our information."

Keelty also called on the Bar Association of Queensland to "severely reprimand" Haneef's barrister Stephen Keim for leaking his client's police interview to the media.

Read more: http://www.business-standard.com/common/storypage_c_online.php?leftnm=11&bKeyFlag=IN&autono=25976

---

Arrested. Held four weeks. Case dismissed. Visa then cancelled. Detained for deportation. Immediately leaves the country voluntarily. Then criticized for leaving so quickly.

Playing domestic politics with the War on Terra leads to an international diplomatic incident ...

I'm innocent, says freed Indian doctor
Sun Jul 29, 2007 3:08 PM EDT147

By Fayen Wong

SYDNEY (Reuters) - An Indian doctor freed from jail after Australia dropped terrorism charges against him said on Sunday he was innocent and would have told the authorities had he known anything about planned bomb attacks in Britain. ~snip~

He voluntarily flew home to India on Saturday after 25 days in custody. ~snip~

http://ca.today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=topNews&storyID=2007-07-29T190752Z_01_SYD33835_RTRIDST_0_NEWS-BRITAIN-BOMB-AUSTRALIA-COL.XML

I would have dobbed in family - Haneef
July 29, 2007 07:30pm

~snip~ "I couldn't really believe that someone from my family ... would do such a thing,'' Dr Haneef said.

"If I had knew (sic) anything, definitely, I would have let the authorities (know), let their parents know first - who are the main sufferers now I suppose.''

Federal ministers were in damage control today over the failed prosecution and Mr Andrews' refusal to reinstate his visa.

Queensland Premier Peter Beattie called for Mr Andrews to be disciplined for his "outrageous'' decision on July 16 to revoke Dr Haneef's work visa after a magistrate had granted him bail. ~snip~

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,22153836-29277,00.html

Andrews says he won't restore Haneef's visa
29 Jul 2007, 1343 hrs IST,PTI

MELBOURNE: Facing calls for an inquiry into his handling of the case of Mohamed Haneef, Australian Immigration Minister Kevin Andrews on Sunday said he would not reinstate the Indian doctor's visa which he cancelled on character grounds. ~snip~

"His visa's been cancelled and unless there is some overturning of that by the Federal Court, it's my indication that that visa will remain cancelled," Andrews told a local media channel.

"Nothing has changed in terms of the circumstances in which I had to make a decision concerning Haneef," Andrews said amid intense criticism of his intervention in the case. ~snip~

Andrews, who revoked Haneef's visa on July 16 and placed him in detention despite a magistrate granting him bail, said that advice from the Commonwealth Solicitor General had found it was open for the government to cancel Haneef's visa regardless of the charge being dropped. ~snip~

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Andrews_says_he_wont_restore_Haneefs_visa/articleshow/2241965.cms

Terror-linked doctor's departure 'suspicious'

Sydney - Australian Immigration Minister Kevin Andrews said on Sunday it was "suspicious" that the Indian doctor held over failed UK bombings had left the country so quickly after charges against him were dropped.

Andrews said Mohamed Haneef's departure from Australia after he was released from custody made the 27-year-old Muslim look more suspicious. ~snip~

But that charge was dismissed on Friday after the country's top prosecutor ruled there was insufficient evidence to support a case.

Andrews had already cancelled Haneef's visa on character grounds and Sunday said he saw no reason to alter his decision. ~snip~

http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=3&art_id=nw20070729084524235C480919

Haneef lawyers continue visa fight
July 30, 2007 02:44am

LAWYERS for Indian doctor Mohamed Haneef will continue their fight to restore their client's Australian visa and clear his name completely.

The Gold Coast Hospital registrar has flown home to India after a charge of supporting a terrorist organisation was dropped due to a lack of evidence. ~snip~

http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,22156420-5005961,00.html

India warns of visa anger
Bruce Loudon

~snip~ After Indian ministers Pranab Mukherjee and Anand Sharma voiced their concerns, a senior bureaucrat in New Delhi upped the ante last night.

"We've been closely monitoring (Immigration Minister) Kevin Andrews' statements and his apparent determination not to give Dr Haneef back his work visa, but frankly, from this distance they look like a muddle," the bureaucrat told The Australian.

"If Dr Haneef has been cleared of all the accusations brought against him, and on that basis has been released, how can the Australian minister insist that his working visa should not be returned to him?"

Despite Dr Haneef's overnight return to India, New Delhi has instructed its high commission in Canberra to pursue the matter of his working visa. ~snip~
Bangalore | July 30, 2007

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,22155720-5013404,00.html

Haneef's secret little deal
Sean Parnell | July 30, 2007

IMMIGRATION officials worked with Mohamed Haneef's legal team to keep him out of the media spotlight during his final days in Australia, arranging a decoy van and secret hideaway - while claiming he was free to speak openly and publicly.

Amid confusion over whether the Indian doctor would talk to journalists, the Nine Network's 60 Minutes program secured an interview with Dr Haneef through his cousin Imran Siddiqui, who ignored lawyers' advice that the Australian people deserved an immediate thank you relayed through all media outlets.

While 60 Minutes will not say if, or how much, Dr Haneef was paid for the interview at his Brisbane hotel, the deal left his legal team disappointed, especially loyal solicitor Peter Russo who accompanied Dr Haneef on the flight home to India. ~snip~

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,22155713-5013404,00.html

Minister needs a character test
William Maley | July 30, 2007

~snip~ The evidence for the expediency of Andrews's approach can be found from the media centre on his own website. At a widely reported press conference on July 16, only hours after Haneef had been granted bail, the minister announced the visa cancellation on the ground that Haneef had failed the character test in the Migration Act 1958.

He stated that this was "unrelated to the question of proceedings in the criminal court in Brisbane", but refused to detail the information on which he purported to rely, claiming: "Under the Migration Act, I am precluded from releasing information, which is protected in this regard."

But in fact, it seemed he still could find a lot to say: his press conference was simply the starting point in a frenzy of media activity, with Andrews doing separate television and radio interviews with Sky News, Seven News, Sunrise, 2GB, ABC 774, 3AW, ABC News Radio, ABC Radio National, 4BC, 2UE, 6PR and 2SM. Virtually all these interviews were replete with insinuations against Haneef, augmented by the minister's claim that he would have "failed the Australian people" if he had not acted. Only months out from an election, it is little wonder some observers smelled a rat.

Even more bizarrely, on July 26, the day before the case against Haneef collapsed, Andrews actually issued a press statement attacking the Opposition for supporting his handling of the case. In a real sense, this statement let the cat out of the bag. Failing to succeed in wedging one's opponents is doubtless frustrating, but shrewd politicians know not to let their frustrations show. By the time Haneef left Australia, the minister's utterances had begun to verge on the paranoid. ~snip~

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,22153989-7583,00.html

Andrews' core political flaw

The Haneef case shows why, on terror, politics should take a back seat to police and the courts | July 30, 2007

IMMIGRATION Minister Kevin Andrews can't have it both ways. Either he is privy to secret information that paints Gold Coast doctor Mohamed Haneef in a light so bad that he should be detained while the matter is properly investigated, or the secret information possessed by the minister is now of so little consequence, Dr Haneef should have his visa reinstated and be allowed to continue to practise medicine in Australia. But what we have witnessed over the past three days bares all the hallmarks of a political charade designed to preserve a shred of credibility for a government that has overplayed its hand.

Mr Andrews made the wrong call on July 16 when he dramatically intervened to revoke Dr Haneef's working visa after he was granted bail by Brisbane magistrate Jacquie Payne. In doing so, Mr Andrews elevated Dr Haneef's plight from a noteworthy police investigation to a cause celebre. But as series of mistakes and misunderstandings was revealed, leaving the police case against Dr Haneef in tatters, Mr Andrews poor handling of the situation has left the Government badly exposed. It now now faces increasing calls for a judicial inquiry in the Haneef debacle and, sensing the tide, the Opposition has dropped its bi-partisan support for the Government's handling of the matter. ~snip~

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,22155504-16741,00.html

No option but to oust minister
Hedley Thomas, Comment | July 30, 2007

~snip~ Andrews has adopted an untenable position to save his skin at the continuing expense of Dr Haneef. The minister is unwilling to restore the visa because to do so would admit what everyone, including Australian Federal Police Commissioner Mick Keelty, knows -- he made a serious error in cancelling it in the first place. ~snip~

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,22155714-5013404,00.html

[MrPrax]

1. Nicely done...good wrap up...K&R

...and it's not just something in Australia...these conservatives worldwide are all copping out on their responsibilities, masking their incompetency, and sometimes racism, in a national security blanket and then acting like 16th cardinals who believe themselves infallible and right -- long past the point of even respectability.

I am getting to the point I want to see these mandarins, security experts, ministers, undersecretaries, advisers, etc etc being asked questions in a criminal court setting instead of the 'pick and choose' spinning they do with the full complicity of the corporate media that tasks itself with basically running campaigns for their political favorites.

There is no safety here; it's just another form of tyranny.

[Deja Q]

2. If the dude is innocent, his name should be cleared.

It's as simple as that.

Plus, being one's blood relative does not indicate compliance with a plot either.

Ditto for nationality; just because 15 of the 9/11 hijackers were Saudi does not mean they were sent by the official Saudi government. OBL took credit and he was expelled from Saudi Arabia.

IMHO, it's better to be wrong like this, than to have not taken and questioned the guy -- what if he had been attempting some vicious plot? There are legitimate times to take no chances; please correct (and forgive) me if I'm wrong in my mindset.

But when found innocent, his good name should be fully restored.

[struggle4progress]

3. The "evidence" seems to have consisted entirely of the fact that ...

... he gave his cousin a phone card.

The official decision not to prosecute is allegedly based on the fact that the phone card was not actually found in the burning car in the UK but a considerable distance away at the cousin's residence. I suppose the implication is that if his cousin had dropped the card in the glove box instead of leaving it at the flat, he'd be headed for fifteen years on ice.

Of course, if there's really cause to suspect someone of involvement in or knowledge of a terrorist plot, it's entirely reasonable to investigate. But lots of people have various relatives, whose lives and views are not fully transparent to them, and to whom they provide minor assistance, motivated by ordinary human decency or a respect for family ties.

But something else may be going on. For years, the Howard government has followed Rove's playbook on Terra. And Australian elections are coming up, probably before the end of 2007. So it's ooga booga! time again.