The Hindu : National : Haneef’s family hails Australian judiciary

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Wednesday, Aug 22, 2007
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Haneef’s family hails Australian judiciary

Afshan Yasmeen and Swati Shivanand

Haneef to wait and see if Australian government will appeal against the judgment

Australian Minister to appeal against restoration of visa
Court’s ruling will be deciding factor, says Haneef’s relative

BANGALORE: “Hats off to the Australian judiciary. We are grateful to them for an unbiased trial. It has been proved that justice prevails,” Iqbal Siddiqui, a relative of Dr. Mohammed Haneef, told The Hindu.

Mr. Siddiqui was reacting to the restoration of Dr. Haneef’s visa by a Brisbane court on Wednesday.

His visa had been cancelled by Immigration Minister Kevin Andrews after the Indian doctor was detained and charged with backing a terrorist organisation linked to the failed bombing at Glasgow in the United Kingdom.

The charges were eventually dropped and Dr. Haneef returned to Bangalore to reunite with his family.

Mr. Iqbal Siddiqui, father of Imran Siddiqui who escorted Dr. Haneef to Bangalore from Australia, said the entire family was happy that Dr. Haneef’s innocence had been proved once again.

Reacting to the judgment, Stephen Keim, Dr. Haneef’s lawyer told The Hindu that his client would have to wait and see whether the Australian government would appeal against the judgment.

Appeal

“The Government has 28 days to file its appeal. So nothing dramatic will happen in the next couple of days,” Mr. Keim said.

Mr. Keim said that Peter Russo, his colleague in Dr. Haneef’s legal team, had been in touch with them.

“Obviously, the family would prefer to have it all over. But they also understand that the Government has the right to their interpretation of the law. They are expecting the best situation possible,” Mr. Keim said.

Neither Dr. Haneef nor his wife Firdous Arshiya was available for comments.

Their relative Mr. Siddique explained it away saying, “According to Mr. Kevin Andrew’s statement in the court today that he will appeal against the restoration of the visa in the High Court, it looks like the game is not yet over.

Dr. Haneef does not want to react at the moment and get into any legal problems,” Mr. Siddiqui said.

Ruling out the possibility of Dr. Haneef returning to Australia “right now,” Mr. Siddiqui said: “If the Immigration Minister appeals in the High Court, the court’s ruling will be the deciding factor regarding Dr. Haneef’s return to Australia.”

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