A government-ordered inquiry into the bungled case of an Indian doctor wrongly linked to attack plots in Britain last year has recommended tougher oversight of Australia’s anti-terrorism laws.
In its 310-page report released yesterday, the inquiry found the Australian Federal Police had no intelligence to justify the arrest of Mohamad Haneef, who became a test case for tough counter-terrorism laws introduced after the Sept. 11 attacks.
Haneef, 29, was working in Queensland state as a doctor when he was arrested by federal police as he tried to board a one-way flight to India. The arrest came days after one of his cousins allegedly drove an explosive-laden SUV into Scotland’s Glasgow airport in a suspected terrorist attack.
Police said they thought it was suspicious that Haneef had bought a one-way ticket. Haneef told police he was rushing to see his sick newborn daughter in Bangalore and planned to return.
He was held without charge for 12 days under anti-terror laws before being charged with providing support to a terrorist organization. The charges were later dropped, but his visa was still revoked.
Haneef’s ordeal triggered a political storm about whether the former conservative government and the federal police were deliberately fueling terrorism fears.
“I could find no evidence that he was associated with or had foreknowledge of the terrorist events,” former New South Wales state Supreme Court judge John Clarke wrote in the report released yesterday.
The terrorism charge was based on Haneef giving his cell phone SIM card to his cousin Sabeel Ahmed, one of the men accused in the attempted bomb attacks. The charge was dropped when it was revealed that Haneef’s SIM card had not been found in the Glasgow attack vehicle, as a prosecutor had claimed.
But with elections looming, then-immigration minister Kevin Andrews revoked Haneef’s visa, saying he was not of good character.
Critics said Andrews was making Haneef a scapegoat to burnish the government’s security credentials.
The court eventually ruled Haneef’s visa should be reinstated.
After winning the election, new Prime Minister Kevin Rudd’s government ordered Clarke’s inquiry.
In the report, Clarke said while Andrews was entitled to revoke Clarke’s visa, his decision to do so was “mystifying.”
Clarke recommended Australia’s anti-terrorism laws be independently reviewed and that a case management system for major police investigations be developed.
Attorney General Robert McClelland said the government would adopt all of the report’s recommendations.
In a conference call from the United Arab Emirates, where he now lives, Haneef told reporters he was pleased with the findings.
“It is a very clear finding that I am totally innocent of the matters alleged against me last year,” said Haneef, who is considering pursuing compensation from the government.
The federal police welcomed the findings, but defended its officers in a statement saying their actions were taken in “good faith and in the best interests of public safety given the circumstances at the time.”
CONFRONTATION: The water cannon attack was the second this month on the Philippine supply boat ‘Unaizah May 4,’ after an incident on March 5 The China Coast Guard yesterday morning blocked a Philippine supply vessel and damaged it with water cannons near a reef off the Southeast Asian country, the Philippines said. The Philippine military released video of what it said was a nearly hour-long attack off the Second Thomas Shoal (Renai Shoal, 仁愛暗沙) in the contested South China Sea, where Chinese ships have unleashed water cannons and collided with Philippine vessels in similar standoffs in the past few months. The China Coast Guard and other vessels “once again harassed, blocked, deployed water cannons, and executed dangerous maneuvers” against a routine rotation and resupply mission to
GLOBAL COMBAT AIR PROGRAM: The potential purchasers would be limited to the 15 nations with which Tokyo has signed defense partnership and equipment transfer deals Japan’s Cabinet yesterday approved a plan to sell future next-generation fighter jets that it is developing with the UK and Italy to other nations, in the latest move away from the country’s post-World War II pacifist principles. The contentious decision to allow international arms sales is expected to help secure Japan’s role in the joint fighter jet project, and is part of a move to build up the Japanese arms industry and bolster its role in global security. The Cabinet also endorsed a revision to Japan’s arms equipment and technology transfer guidelines to allow coproduced lethal weapons to be sold to nations
‘POLITICAL EARTHQUAKE’: Leo Varadkar said he was ‘no longer the best person’ to lead the nation and was stepping down for political, as well as personal, reasons Leo Varadkar on Wednesday announced that he was stepping down as Ireland’s prime minister and leader of the Fine Gael party in the governing coalition, citing “personal and political” reasons. Pundits called the surprise move, just 10 weeks before Ireland holds European Parliament and local elections, a “political earthquake.” A general election has to be held within a year. Irish Deputy Prime Minister Micheal Martin, leader of Fianna Fail, the main coalition partner, said Varadkar’s announcement was “unexpected,” but added that he expected the government to run its full term. An emotional Varadkar, who is in his second stint as prime minister and at
Thousands of devotees, some in a state of trance, gathered at a Buddhist temple on the outskirts of Bangkok renowned for sacred tattoos known as Sak Yant, paying their respects to a revered monk who mastered the practice and seeking purification. The gathering at Wat Bang Phra Buddhist temple is part of a Thai Wai Khru ritual in which devotees pay homage to Luang Phor Pern, the temple’s formal abbot, who died in 2002. He had a reputation for refining and popularizing the temple’s Sak Yant tattoo style. The idea that tattoos confer magical powers has existed in many parts of Asia