Sydney - Mistakes were made in the case of an Indian doctor
charged with a terrorism offence but there is no need to apologize to
recently released Mohammed Haneef, Australian Prime Minister John
Howard said Monday.
The charge of supporting terrorism was dropped last week. Haneef
returned to Bangalore at the weekend claiming he had been exonerated
and should have his visa reinstated.
'Quite plainly a mistake was made in the Brisbane office of the
Director of Public Prosecutions,' Howard said.
But the prime minister insisted that in tackling terrorism 'it's
better to be safe than sorry' and that 'it's better to have laws that
allow someone to be taken into detention and questioned when there is
a reasonable suspicion.'
Haneef was held for almost a month under Australia's new
anti-terrorism laws and had his work visa cancelled on the grounds
that he was not a person of good character.
The 27-year-old was arrested at Brisbane airport July 2 while
waiting with a one-way ticket for a flight to India.
Police initially alleged he had supplied a mobile phone SIM card
to the group behind the failed bombings and that it had been found in
a blazing Jeep that cousin Kafeel Ahmed is alleged to have driven
into the concourse at Glasgow airport. They subsequently retracted
that allegation, saying the SIM card was found with Kafeel Ahmed's
brother Sabeel in a house in Liverpool some 300 kilometres away.
The location of the SIM card was one of two mistakes admitted to
by the public prosecutor. The other was where Haneef had lived in
Britain before arriving in Australia in September last year.
'Australia will not be apologizing to Dr Haneef,' Howard said. 'Dr
Haneef was not victimized and Australia's international reputation
has not been harmed by this 'mis-start' to its new anti-terrorism
laws.'
Immigration Minister Kevin Andrews, the official who cancelled
Haneef's visa, said he remained doubtful of Haneef's good character
and may release details that would support his view.
'This man has had associations with people engaged in criminal
conduct,' Andrews said. 'And, hopefully, when people see the further
information ... they'll be able to see that there are more
circumstances that haven't been made available to them to date.'
Haneef's lawyer in Australia is challenging the decision to revoke
his client's visa. Andrews said he expected the legal challenge to
fail.
© 2007 dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur 
USA
Your Talkback on this Story