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Haneef could win freedom: lawyer

Melbourne: Indian doctor Mohammed Haneef, charged in connection with the U.K. terror plots, could win his freedom in court because of apparent mistakes in a briefing that led Immigration Minister Kevin Andrews to order his detention.

“Even one error of fact could be enough to undermine the Government’s case,” constitutional lawyer George Williams was quoted as saying by The Australian on Saturday.

Those mistakes are expected to be raised in the Federal Court by Dr. Haneef’s lawyers on August 8 when they challenge the Government’s decision on Monday to revoke his visa. They are the same apparent mistakes that appear in an affidavit used in the Brisbane Magistrate’s Court against Dr. Haneef by the Australian Federal Police (AFP) when he was granted bail.

Mr. Andrews has refused to review his decision to cancel Dr. Haneef’s visa, saying his decision was based on information not seen by Brisbane magistrate Jacqui Payne, who granted him bail. The apparent errors are contained in a minute on Dr. Haneef, prepared by senior public servant Peter White on Monday.

Assertions contained in that minute are inconsistent with an official police record of the interview made public by Dr. Haneef’s barrister, Stephen Keim.

Part of the minute states that Dr. Haneef told the AFP he lived in Britain with Sabeel Ahmed, one of the suspects in the terror attacks there. However, the record of the interview said Dr. Haneef told the police he moved out of those premises by the time Dr. Ahmed came to stay there.

The second apparent mistake in the briefing refers to the fact that Dr. Haneef bought a one-way ticket to India. The briefing said: “When questioned why it was a one-way ticket, Haneef stated that there was no particular reason for this and he intended to return to Australia within 7 days.” The record of the interview showed he gave the police a detailed explanation referring to a lack of funds and the fact that the ticket had been bought by his father-in-law in Bangalore.

The Australian police have admitted that crucial evidence against Dr. Haneef was incorrect.

It had not been confirmed that the SIM card was found at the scene of the Glasgow attack, as prosecutors alleged during Dr. Haneef’s bail hearing last weekend, police sources have told Fairfax newspapers.

The SIM card was found in the possession of one of Dr. Haneef’s cousins, Sabeel Ahmed, in Liverpool, hundreds of kilometres away from the failed Glasgow bombing. No official attempt has been made to correct the public record, despite police sources telling Fairfax that they had been aware of the error for some time, according to The Australian.

Asked why Dr. Haneef would have provided his SIM card if he knew it was to be used for terrorism, prosecutor Clive Porritt told the court it had been intended that the SIM card would be destroyed in the planned explosion when the jeep was rammed into the Glasgow airport doors. — PTI

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