Muhamed Haneef
Muhamed Haneef (born 29 September 1979[citation needed]) is an Indian-born doctor who was falsely[1][2][3][4][5][6] accused of aiding terrorists, and left Australia upon cancellation of his visa amid great political controversy.
Haneef's ensuing detention became the longest without charge in recent Australian history, which caused great controversy in Australia and India.
[9][10] In December 2010, Haneef returned to Australia to seek damages for loss of income, interruption of his professional work, and emotional distress.
[11] Raised a Muslim, Haneef is from Mudigere, in the coffee-rich Chikkamagaluru district of the state of Karnataka in India, where his late father, Shami Khaleel, was a teacher.
[7] Shortly after this Haneef moved with his family to Bangalore, and completed his pre-university certification course at SDM College in Ujire in the neighbouring district of Dakshina Kannada.
[citation needed] Haneef worked at Halton Hospital in Runcorn Cheshire, before applying for a job in Australia under that country's temporary skilled worker scheme, after reading an advertisement in the March 2006 issue of the British Medical Journal.
[citation needed] Mick Keelty, the Australian Federal Police Commissioner, acknowledged that Haneef "may have done nothing wrong and may at the end of the day be free to go.
This led authorities to believe Haneef's attempted exit from Australia on 2 July was directly linked to the arrest of his cousin Kafeel Ahmed, who suffered 90% burns after the Glasgow Airport attack on 30 June.
[citation needed] They discounted the possibility that Haneef was returning to see his six-day-old daughter, who had neonatal jaundice, and wife who had given birth to her first child by emergency caesarean section.
[citation needed] Following his arrest, Haneef's family claimed that any link between him and the terrorists is only tenuous, and a case of guilt by association, that he was not involved in the plot, and that he was returning to India to see his wife and daughter.
[16] Haneef's father-in-law said the doctor wanted to take his wife and daughter back to Australia after getting the infant a passport, and so travelled without a return ticket.
[28] A review by the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), Damian Bugg, revealed the allegations connected to the SIM card use were an "error of fact".
[29] The AFP claimed in a court affidavit that Haneef told police in his first interview that he lived in Britain with the two terrorism suspects, his cousins: "On 2 July and 3 July 2007 Dr Haneef participated in a taped record of interview with the AFP and stated the following: Whilst in the UK he resided with suspects 1 and 2 (alleged suicide bomber Kafeel Ahmed and his brother Sabeel Ahmed), at 13 Bentley Road, Liverpool.
"[citation needed] In subsequent Immigration Department documents used to advise Australian Immigration Minister Kevin Andrews, senior public servant Peter White asserted: "Dr Haneef advised the AFP that he resided with Dr Sabeel Ahmed at a boarding house located at 13 Bentley Road, Liverpool, UK.
[33] Unsubstantiated media reports claim that Muhamed Haneef was in frequent and extensive contact with two men at the centre of Britain's car-bomb plot on the eve of their failed terror attacks.
There are claims that computer records obtained by authorities reveal that Haneef remained in close contact with both Kafeel and his brother Sabeel until the failed bombings on 29 June.
[40] On Sunday, 22 July, some News Limited papers[41] reported unsubstantiated claims from unnamed law enforcement sources that the AFP was investigating Haneef's alleged involvement in a plot to blow up a Gold Coast skyscraper.
The Australian Federal Police commissioner Mick Keelty was forced to take the extraordinary step of publicly denying any substance to these claims.
On 22 July, the Queensland government revealed that Haneef would be treated "as a terrorist" while detained in jail and subject to special conditions, including solitary confinement for 23 hours a day.
[citation needed] Queensland Police and Corrective Services Minister Judy Spence said the conditions of his detention included no contact with other inmates, meaning Haneef would be alone in a cell for all but one hour a day, when he would be allowed to exercise.
Haneef was ordered to be freed on a relatively modest, $10,000 surety on 16 July 2007,[47] after the public prosecutor failed to convince the magistrate that the doctor should be remanded in custody.
Mr Andrews said that the Australian Federal Police would issue a "criminal justice certificate", the effect of would be that Haneef will remain in immigration detention while legal proceedings are afoot.
[42][57] Justice Spender was also sceptical of the timing of the minister's decision, just hours after Magistrate Jacqui Payne granted Haneef bail.
It was subsequently reported by The Australian newspaper and ABC's AM program that the veracity of these claims are questionable, and that the SIM card was found in Liverpool at Sabeel Ahmed's residence.
[69] The handling of the case by the Australian Federal Police (AFP) and the Department of Public Prosecutions (DPP) has been criticised by Victorian Supreme Court Judge (then criminal lawyer) Lex Lasry, and former chairman of the National Crime Commission, Peter Faris.
[73] The Australian Labor Party called for an external review of the handling of the Haneef case by the Office of the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions.
Pending the receipt of that advice, Minister Kevin Andrews made a Residence Determination under s197AB of the Migration Act 1958 to allow Haneef to be detained in the community, although with some restrictions on his movements and a requirement to report to authorities daily.
[76][77] On 31 July 2007, Kevin Andrews released further details of the review by the solicitor general which, he claimed, affirmed the minister's decision to revoke Haneef's visa.
[80]On 30 August 2008, The Sydney Morning Herald reported that the Australian Federal Police had finally confirmed they have cleared Haneef as a suspect in the Glasgow attack.
[84] On 28 July, the Immigration Minister stated:[85] After taking advice, including from the Australian Federal Police, I have indicated that the Commonwealth has no objection to Haneef leaving Australia.
