Haneef's interrogation to be dramatised in a play

MELBOURNE: A play depicting the ordeal of Indian doctor Mohammed Haneef, wrongly accused of involvement in the failed UK car bombings, during his nearly four-week detention in Australia last year will be staged across this country next month.

"Haneef: The Interrogation" written by Graham Pitts will be premiered here on February 24.

"The play will basically highlight that he was wrongly detained by the police before being proved innocent in front of law," Pitts said.

"The play will strongly target Australia's new anti-terrorism laws and its message is to inform people that what has happened to Haneef here can happen to anyone of us," Pitts said on Saturday.

The two-man play, to be performed 15 times across the country next month, was written based on the transcripts obtained by Pitts from the websites of various Indian and Australian newspapers.

Pitts said he felt the need to write the play because 'Haneef case highlighted a culture of fear cultivated by new anti-terrorism laws'.

"It certainly doesn't label him as a terrorism suspect," he said adding, he would like the Indian doctor to watch the play.

"I would ask him to come back to Australia and myself go to airport to receive him and take him to see my play," he said.

Pitts said he was also in talks with Indian theatre groups to stage the play in India as well.

Haneef was detained by the Australian Federal Police in July and charged with providing support to a terrorist organisation. He spent nearly four weeks in detention.

The charge was dropped later as Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions announced there was no reasonable prospect of a conviction and Haneef returned to Bangalore.

The full bench of the Federal Court last month upheld a judge's decision to reinstate his work visa, clearing the way for Haneef to return to Australia.

Immigration Minister Chris Evans had last week said the government would not appeal against the decision.