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Australian court clears way for terror 'suspect'

A court yesterday cleared the way for an Indian doctor arrested over failed bomb attacks in Britain to return to Australia when it upheld a previous ruling that the government erred in canceling his visa.

The government lost its appeal to keep Mohamed Haneef out of Australia when the Federal Court agreed with a previous judge's decision that the cancelation of his visa was incorrect.

The government may appeal this decision, but Haneef's lawyer, Peter Russo, said the ruling effectively reinstated his client's visa and it was now up to Immigration Minister Chris Evans to decide how to proceed.

He said Haneef, who is in Mecca in Saudi Arabia for the annual hajj pilgrimage, was relieved.

Haneef was arrested at Brisbane airport on July 2, just days after the failed car bombings in London and Glasgow, as he waited to board a flight to India.

Australian authorities detained him for 12 days before charging him with providing support to a terrorist organization for giving a mobile phone SIM card to a cousin accused of being involved in the attacks in Britain.

When the charge was dropped two weeks later due to a lack of evidence, then Australian immigration minister Kevin Andrews canceled Haneef's working visa on character grounds, forcing the doctor to return to India.

Haneef's family said yesterday it was "very happy" about the court decision.

It remained uncertain yesterday whether Haneef would now go back to Australia.

Meanwhile, an Australian magistrate ruled yesterday that former Guantanamo Bay terror prisoner David Hicks posed a threat to Australia's national security and had to report to police three times a week and stay indoors from midnight to dawn after his release from prison next week.

Hicks has not been convicted of any crime in Australia, but federal police sought an order in the Federal Magistrate's Court imposing restrictions on his movement and other measures under anti-terrorism laws.
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