Haneef homeward bound, is smiling again

SYDNEY: The smile returned to the face of Indian doctor Muhammad Haneef as he entered Brisbane airport on Saturday evening to catch a flight home after a 25-day incarceration, as the Australian government dropped terrorism charges against him though it refused to reinstate his 457 work visa.

Haneef, 27, who was in custody since July 2 in connection with the botched British terror plot last month, was boarding the 11.55 p.m. Thai Airways flight home following Minister for Immigration and Citizenship Kevin Andrews' decision to allow him to leave Australia.

With a big smile on his face, Haneef gave thumbs up to the media, which along with the Australian people had played a crucial role in his flight to freedom, as he was ushered into Brisbane international airport by immigration officials.

According to his lawyer, Peter Russo, immigration authorities made it a condition of facilitating his return to India that he did not speak to the media.

His lawyer said Haneef was happy with the outcome, but would fight to have his visa reinstated.

Russo has lodged an appeal in the Federal Court against the immigration minister's decision to cancel his client's work visa, which is scheduled for hearing in Brisbane Aug 8.

Russo told the media that Haneef was not being deported and was leaving Australia voluntarily. He said the doctor was pining to see his wife and newborn daughter and was anxious about his mother, who has not been well since she heard of his arrest.

"He really wants to be home and we have to respect that," Russo said.

The lawyer said the priority was to have Haneef's work visa reinstated and clear his name as the cancellation could have "serious downstream effects" on his work and travel.

"I understand he might want to return to live and work in Australia one day and he is grateful to Queensland Premier Peter Beattie for working to save his job at Gold Coast Hospital," the lawyer said.

Haneef is being accompanied by his wife's cousin Imran Siddiqui and his lawyer on the flight via Bangkok, arriving in his hometown Bangalore Monday.

Some Australian journalists were planning to be on the same plane.

The Australian government Friday absolved Haneef of charges of supporting terrorism amid demands that those behind the tragedy of errors must quit and that the Indian doctor be sent home honourably.

However, Immigration Minister Andrews, who had cancelled Haneef's visa hours after he was granted bail by a Brisbane Magistrate July 16, said the visa remained cancelled.

Soon after being cleared of any involvement in the botched attacks in Glasgow and London, he was released from the high-security Wolston Correctional Centre in Brisbane and sent into residential detention.

The immigration minister said Haneef's lawyers had contacted his department asking if the doctor could leave Australia as soon as possible.

Andrews told newspersons in Melbourne, "After taking advice, including from the Australian Federal Police, I have indicated that the commonwealth has no objection to Haneef leaving Australia. Indeed the effect of the visa cancellation is that he should remove himself, he should depart Australia in any event."

The minister said, "The solicitor-general has advised me that despite the charge being withdrawn by the director of public prosecutions, it would still be open to me on the material now available - that is with the charge having been withdrawn - to come to the same conclusion to cancel the visa which I did originally.

"Accordingly, the solicitor-general has advised me that the current proceedings in the Federal Court, he believes, will fail," Andrews said, adding: "Accordingly, I do not propose to change my decision and the commonwealth will continue to resist this appeal in the Federal Court."

Despite the charge being dropped, Australian Federal Police (AFP) Commissioner Mick Keelty said the investigation was still continuing.

The AFP has admitted that there were irregularities in evidence and there was no prospect of conviction and the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions has acknowledged making "mistakes", but no one has taken responsibility for the blunders.

There has been no apology to Haneef from those responsible for the failures in his case.

The first real test of the government's counter-terrorism laws during the Haneef investigation has made the wider community concerned about the potential danger of authorities abusing the laws.