Indian doc petrified, punished for "unfortunate acquaintance"

MELBOURNE: Life for Indian doctor Mohammed Asif Ali, who was released on Wednesday by the Australian Police after being held in connection with the failed UK terror attacks, will not be the same anymore.

Ali, according to police, made an "unfortunate acquaintance" in his friendship with his fellow doctor and compatriot Mohamed Haneef, also detained in connection with the terror plot, and ended up almost being branded a terrorist by a section of the media.

The 26-year-old doctor, who arrived in Australia six months ago, has had his world turned upside down in the past 48 hours, simply because he agreed to mind some things for his friend, Haneef.

Ali was lying low on Wednesday, as media staked out his apartment just two blocks from the Gold Coast Hospital where he worked.

When reporters managed to get Ali on his mobile phone, he begged to be left alone, saying he was extremely tired and just wanted to sleep. "I don't know anything," he said. The manager of his apartment block said the doctor was "petrified" after his ordeal.

He was unwittingly caught up in a manhunt after police detained Haneef at Brisbane Airport late on Monday on suspicion of having been in contact with members of a group involved in a British car bomb plot.

Police kicked in Ali's door the next morning, and spent the next day rifling through his apartment, and combing Haneef's car.

It was almost last midnight before police finished questioning Ali. Police sources described him as a man who had simply made an unfortunate acquaintance.

Australian Federal Police Commissioner Mick Keelty had said Ali had not committed any crime, and was free to go about his business.

But the damage had already been done to Ali's reputation, his face plastered on tabloid newspapers, under headlines such as "the enemy within" and "terror link on our doorstep".

The manager said the apartment was left in shambles by police, with fingerprint dust scattered over everything. "The unit's a mess," he aid.

After the ordeal, Queensland Government offered Ali support. Premier Peter Beattie suggested it could be difficult for Ali to return to work at the hospital.

"Bearing in mind the amount of media focus on this and the attention on the hospital, Queensland Health will need to talk to him about whether this is an appropriate place for him to practise," Beattie said yesterday.

The acting district manager of the Gold Coast Health Service, Brian Bell, said Ali was free to return to work. "The district will do everything it can to assist at this difficult time."

Queensland's Health Minister Stephen Robertson said Ali's return to work would have to be handled sensitively.    

"The problem is, unfortunately, this person has been named. It now appears he has had nothing to do with the allegations that have been bouncing around.

"You would then understand that he would find himself in a very difficult position, being so publicly identified, in my view, far too early," he said.