Relief for Haneef | Press Release | Your Say - World News

New Delhi: The nightmare for Mohammad Haneef is finally over.

The Australian Federal Police on Friday dropped all charges - including the severe terrorism charge - against the Indian doctor who was detained in connection with the failed UK terror plot.

The decision came after Commonwealth prosecutors withdrew the charge of Haneef supporting a terrorist organisation in Brisbane, following a review of the case by the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions Damian Bugg.

President of Australian Law Council Timm Bugg told CNN-IBN Haneef case showed Australia has independent prosecution in the country. “This also shows we are in a great need to review anti-terror law in Australia,” he said.

At the Magistrates Court in Brisbane on Friday morning, a representative of the Director of Public Prosecutions asked for the matter to be adjourned until 1500 hrs (local time), so that Bugg got time to complete his review of the case against Haneef.

Twenty-seven-year-old Haneef was arrested on July 2 in Brisbane, was charged with "recklessly" supporting a terrorist

group.

'Mistakes were made'

Bugg said the terror charge against Haneef was dropped because there was no reasonable prospect of him being convicted on the evidence.

"While there are inferences that are available from the material I have, I am of the view that they are not sufficiently strong to exclude reasonable hypotheses consistent with innocence,'' he said in a press conference in Canberra. "On my view of the matter a mistake has been made," he said.

However, the Australian government has maintained it will not revoke the doctor's working visa.

Because he has no visa to remain in Australia, Haneef may have to remain in custody while he appeals the immigration minister's decision. That case is due before a court on Aug. 8.

Federal Police Commissioner Mick Keelty told reporters in Canberra he would not revise his advice to the minister, who has said he stands by his decision to withdraw Haneef's visa.

A court ordered Haneef's release on bail last week but Immigration Minister Kevin Andrews kept him in prison by canceling his visa on character grounds, based on information provided by the federal police.

India has welcomed the Australian police's move. "We are very happy that the severe charge of terrorism has been dropped against Dr Haneef. We now request Australian government to give him a visa. Now whether the doctor is deported or returns to India via the visa route is their choice," Minister of State for External Affairs, E Ahmed told CNN-IBN.

'Treat him like a good guy'

Earlier, Australian Health Minister Tony Abbott had also insisted Haneef should be treated like a "good guy" if he is found not guilty of supporting terrorism.

"If he's a good guy who has done nothing wrong, I suppose, he should be treated like other good guys who've done nothing wrong," news agencies quoted Abbott as telling Aussie daily Herald Sun. "But whether he is a good guy who has done nothing wrong is the sort of thing that Kevin Andrews, quite rightly, will be seeking expert advice on,” he says.

Abbott's comments coincided with remarks by Immigration Minister Kevin Andrews, who stood by his decision to revoke Haneef's visa.

Andrews said nothing was revealed to him in the last 24 or 48 hours that would lead him to believe that the information provided by the police which he used as a basis for revoking the visa was inappropriate or incorrect

The case was falling apart

A top criminal lawyer in Australia also said that he expected the authorities to drop the charges against Haneef as early as Saturday and latest by Monday.

Peter Faris saw the review as a sign that the case against Haneef was close to collapsing.

How cops ran for cover

The Australian police blamed the prosecution for mishandling the case, specifically, for giving the court wrong information about Haneef's SIM card.

In fact, the police commissioner made another startling disclosure. He said that an investigating officer working on the Haneef case died at work last week, because of intense pressure.

<table width="248" border="0" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="2"> <tr bgcolor="#AE111D"> <td height="20" valign="middle" bgcolor="#DB1524"><div align="center"><strong class="Wtext11">TIMELINE OF HANEEF CASE</strong></div></td> </tr> <tr bgcolor="#e7e7e7"> <td width="248" height="20" valign="middle" class="Btext11 pLeft10"><img src="/pix/common/bullet.gif" width="7" height="7" alt="bullet" />June 29, 30 - Failed terrorist attacks in London and Glasgow.</td> </tr> <tr> <td width="248" height="20" valign="middle" class="Btext11 pLeft10"><img src="/pix/common/bullet.gif" width="7" height="7" alt="bullet" />July 2 - Haneef arrested at Brisbane Airport while trying to board a flight on a one-way-ticket to India; arrest follows a request from British authorities.</td> </tr> <tr> <td width="248" height="20" valign="middle" class="Btext11 pLeft10"><img src="/pix/common/bullet.gif" width="7" height="7" alt="bullet" />July 14 - Police charge Haneef with providing support to a terrorist organisation by giving his mobile phone SIM card to a relative later charged over the attacks.</td> </tr> <tr> <td width="248" height="20" valign="middle" class="Btext11 pLeft10"><img src="/pix/common/bullet.gif" width="7" height="7" alt="bullet" />July 16 - Haneef granted bail on $A10,000 surety. Immigration Minister Kevin Andrews revokes Haneef's 457 work visa and orders he be held in detention pending the hearing of his charge. </td> </tr> <tr> <td width="248" height="20" valign="middle" class="Btext11 pLeft10"><img src="/pix/common/bullet.gif" width="7" height="7" alt="bullet" />July 18 - Haneef's barrister Stephen Keim SC leaks a 142-page transcript of an Australian Federal Police (AFP) interview in response to earlier leaks by government sources to media. The move is condemned by the government. On the same day Haneef is moved to Wolston Correctional Centre after failing to post bail and a Federal Court judge questions Andrews' decision to cancel Haneef's visa during an appeal, saying he himself would fail a character test.</td> </tr> <tr> <td width="248" height="20" valign="middle" class="Btext11 pLeft10"><img src="/pix/common/bullet.gif" width="7" height="7" alt="bullet" />July 20 - Reports reveal Haneef's SIM card was found by authorities in Liverpool, not in the Jeep used in the Scottish terrorist attack as a Brisbane court was told.</td> </tr> <tr> <td height="20" valign="middle" class="Btext11 pLeft10">July 21 - Haneef's relative Imran Siddiqui arrives in Brisbane to give moral support.</td> </tr> <tr> <td height="20" valign="middle" class="Btext11 pLeft10">July 22 - AFP Commissioner Mick Keelty is forced to deny media reports which cited anonymous sources saying Haneef was being investigated over a planned terrorist attack on the Gold Coast. Queensland Premier Peter Beattie says leaks and inconsistencies in the investigation makes the AFP look like `keystone cops'.</td> </tr> <tr> <td height="20" valign="middle" class="Btext11 pLeft10">July 23 - Commissioner Keelty again denies media reports; this time that police wrote the names of overseas terror suspects in Haneef's diary before questioning him on it.</td> </tr> <tr> <td height="20" valign="middle" class="Btext11 pLeft10">July 24 - Beattie calls for a Senate inquiry into the federal police handling of the investigation.</td> </tr> <tr> <td height="20" valign="middle" class="Btext11 pLeft10">July 25 - Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions announces he will review all material in the case after days of damaging criticism about the handling of the police investigation.</td> </tr> <tr> <td height="20" valign="middle" class="Btext11 pLeft10">July 27 - THE Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) dropped the terror charge against Indian doctor Mohamed Haneef.</td> </tr> <tr> <td height="20" valign="middle" class="Btext11 pLeft10">Commonwealth prosecutors withdrew the charge of supporting a terrorist organisation in Brisbane Magistrates Court</td> </tr> </table>

(For updates you can share with your friends, follow IBNLive on Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and Pinterest)

#uk terror plot #mohammad haneef #australia