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No witch-hunt over Haneef case, says Australia

SINGAPORE: Australia “does not intend to engage on a witch-hunt to pursue any individual” in politics or administration for the way Mohamed Haneef was “wrongly charged” and treated last year in a collapsed case of “terror link.”

The government’s stand, affirmed by Attorney-General Robert McClelland, is in response to calls for fixing responsibility and apologising to the aggrieved Indian national, then a resident in Australia. The previous John Howard government and some serving security officials are in the firing line of critics. Commenting on apology, soon after the Report was tabled in Parliament, Mr. McClelland distanced the present Kevin Rudd Government from the previous administration that filed the case against Dr. Haneef. The door was, however, left open on compensation.

Mr. McClelland said: “There are a number of [still-serving] officers … who have been the subject of … quite strong criticism by Mr. Clarke. It is not my role to defend them. … At the same time [as] he criticises them, he also knows the [global anti-terror] context in which they were operating, and he knows that they presented to him as competent and dedicated officers. … [And] Mr. Clarke found that there was no ulterior motive on the part of any Minister for political or other purposes. And, we accept [the] findings.”

Bangalore Staff Reporter writes:

Dr. Haneef’s legal team will now turn their attention to how to compensate him for the disruption and distress he and his family suffered.

“We are currently seeking further relevant documents from the Australian Federal Police including documents which might indicate whether or not Dr. Haneef’s conversation with the Indian consular staff was recorded by the Australian Federal Police,” said a member of the legal team in an E-mail to The Hindu. “Release of the relevant documents is currently being resisted,” he added.

He said “it would be a good thing” if the then Prime Minister John Howard, senior Cabinet members in his Ministry Kevin Andrews and Philip Ruddock, Commissioner of the Australian Federal Police Mick Keelty and Mr. McClelland went on television together and repeated the words: “Dr. Haneef is and was always innocent of the allegations made against him”. “That would go some way to ameliorating the damage done to Dr. Haneef’s reputation in Australia, in India and around the world,” he said.

“The most important part of the Clarke Report is that it says in the clearest terms that Dr. Haneef is, and was always, innocent. This is very rewarding because Dr. Haneef’s lawyers have spent the last year working hard to assist Mr. Clarke to discover the truth of what happened to Dr. Haneef, and in a number of important respects, Mr. Clarke achieved that,” he said.

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