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We have our facts right: Keelty

SINGAPORE: As the review of the case against Brisbane-based Indian doctor Mohammed Haneef under Australia’s counter-terror laws continued on Thursday, the Australian Federal Police (AFP) asserted that they had got their facts right.

Attorney-General Philip Ruddock, too, said: “There have been no mistakes committed by the Government.” This was a hint that the Australian Government was standing by the decision of Immigration Minister Kevin Andrews to cancel Dr. Haneef’s visa. A related question that grabbed attention was whether the Indian doctor could be deported even if the charges against him were to be dropped.

AFP Commissioner Mick Keelty said in Perth that the “error” about the centrality of Dr. Haneef’s mobile phone SIM card to the recent “terror plots” in Britain “was made by the [Australian] prosecutor.”

Australia’s Director of Public Prosecutions Damian Bugg is “reviewing” the case.

About the challenges that the AFP had encountered in this case, Mr. Keelty said: “One of the investigators dropped dead in the investigation room Monday last week. So, [the] investigation team has been through very emotional, stressful, time.”

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