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Howard hopes government appeal will be upheld

MELBOURNE: Facing major embarrassment after the Federal Court on Tuesday overturned the cancellation of Mohammed Haneef’s Australian visa, Prime Minister John Howard backed his government’s national security policies and said he is confident that his administration’s position will be upheld on appeal.

Mr. Howard said the government’s policies have little to do with how the justice system operates.

“I am ultimately responsible for the national security of the country, I accept that, but it is a cardinal principle of our system of government that the executive is separate from the prosecutorial branch of government” he was quoted by ABC.

“We have a judge making a decision, we don’t agree with it, it’s now gone on appeal and the sensible thing is to wait the outcome of the appeal,” Mr. Howard said adding he was confident the Government’s position would be upheld on appeal.

“Until that appeal is resolved I’ll hold my comment except to express my belief that the [Immigration] Minister was right [to cancel the visa],” he said.

“The judge, although saying the Minister had wrongly interpreted the relevant section, did not suggest he had acted in bad faith,” he said.

The judge said on Tuesday that governments should not consider themselves above the rule of law in matters involving national security, apparently a rebuke to the administration for the way it handled the Dr. Haneef’s case.

“There is no room for the view that the executive should have exclusive responsibility over all matters involving national security,” Judge Jeffrey Spender said.

He said the executive was “charged with a heavy responsibility in matters of national security, but Parliament has defined the limits — and it is for the judicial arm of government to ensure that ministerial or other official action is lawful,” The Age reported.

The judge also criticised Immigration Minister Kevin Andrews for releasing selective evidence to the media on the alleged involvement of Dr. Haneef in the botched U.K. car bomb plot while withholding it from the court.

“There is a certain piquancy in the present case,” he said. Dr. Haneef’s lawyer, Peter Russo, said the ruling was a “big step to victory” in the battle to have the doctor’s visa reinstated. — PTI

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Howard hopes government appeal will be upheld

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