Tuesday August 21, 04:00 PM
GOVT TO APPEAL AGAINST HANEEF RULING
Immigration Minister Kevin Andrews says the federal government will appeal against the Federal Court ruling overturning his decision to cancel Mohamed Haneef's visa.
Federal Court Justice Jeffrey Spender has quashed the federal government's decision to cancel the former Gold Coast-based doctor's work visa on character grounds.
"When I made the decision to cancel Dr Haneef's visa, I made it in the national interest and I stand by that decision," Mr Andrews told reporters in Sydney.
"I have instructed the Australian government solicitor to lodge an appeal."
Mr Andrews cancelled Dr Haneef's work visa on character grounds last month, saying he had a reasonable suspicion Dr Haneef had "associated" with terrorists.
But delivering his decision in Brisbane, Justice Spender said the minister had used the wrong test in cancelling the visa.
He said the minister should have cancelled it on the grounds Dr Haneef was a person of interest to UK authorities and that he had been charged with an offence.
He added that the minister may not be able make a decision on those grounds now.
Lawyers for Indian doctor Mohamed Haneef were bracing for further legal battles despite the court decision.
Dr Haneef's solicitor Peter Russo welcomed the decision, but said he expected the minister to either appeal the decision or cancel his client's visa on new grounds.
"We've won round one ... we've just got to wait to see if there's going to be a round two," Mr Russo said.
Justice Spender told the Federal Court in Brisbane the minister made a "jurisdictional error" in cancelling Dr Haneef's visa.
But Justice Spender added the decision would have been valid had the minister applied a different legal test.
Mr Andrews cancelled Dr Haneef's visa on the grounds that the 27-year-old doctor had failed a "character test" provided under immigration laws, because he had an association with alleged criminals - namely his second cousins, UK terror suspects Kafeel and Sabeel Ahmed.
Justice Spender told the court the term "association" should not include mere social, family or professional relationships.
He said there needed to be an "alliance" between the visa holder and a person accused of criminal activity to justify a cancellation.
However, Justice Spender said Mr Andrews had justifiable reasons to cancel Dr Haneef's visa, but had failed to use them.
These reasons included the fact Dr Haneef was a person of interest to UK authorities investigating failed bomb plots and that he had been charged on July 14 with providing support to a terrorist organisation.
Mr Andrews may not be able to use those grounds to again cancel Dr Haneef's visa because the charge against him was dropped late last month.
Mr Russo said Dr Haneef's legal team felt vindicated by the court decision, hailing it "a big step forward".
However, he said Dr Haneef was prepared for further legal battles.
"He's a pretty calm sort of guy, he doesn't get emotional about anything really," Mr Russo said.
Justice Spender noted the political controversy surrounding the case, but said it had no impact on his decision.
Mr Russo said his client would like to return to his work and study at Gold Coast Hospital, but his wife was not in favour of him coming back to Australia.
"My understanding is that his wife is still not convinced that would be the wisest thing for her husband to do, but speaking to Mohamed, he has expressed the wish that he be able to return to Australia," Mr Russo told Sky News.
A Queensland Health spokeswoman said Dr Haneef would be accepted back at the Gold Coast Hospital, provided he had a visa and appropriate registration.
NEW details about the Glasgow airport terror attack suggest that the terrorism charges laid by Australian police against Mohamed Haneef and later dropped were even more tenuous than previously believed.
Legal sources in Britain yesterday confirmed that Sabeel Ahmed, the second-cousin through whom Dr Haneef was linked to the case, did not appear to have known in advance about the attack and was warned only 90 minutes after the blazing four-wheel-drive rammed the airport building that something was being planned.
Sabeel, 26, has been charged with withholding information about a terror attack and it had previously been believed that he had been tipped off just before the airport attack.
Dr Haneef was arrested in Brisbane in June and charged with aiding a terror organisation because he had given Sabeel a mobile phone SIM card before leaving Britain a year earlier.
That charge was dropped and Dr Haneef left the country after police admitted they had based the charge on misleading information, including the mistaken claim that his SIM card had been found at the scene of the attack.
Today in the Federal Court in Brisbane, Justice Jeffrey Spender will rule on an appeal by Dr Haneef's lawyers against Immigration Minister Kevin Andrews' cancellation of his visa on character grounds.
Another cousin of Dr Haneef, Sabeel's 27-year-old brother Kafeel, drove the car into the airport but Dr Haneef's only alleged link to the crime was through Sabeel, who is not even accused of knowing it was going tohappen.
The charge against Sabeel of withholding information is based on an email sent to him by Kafeel two hours before the Glasgow attack in which Kafeel is believed to have claimed responsibility for two failed car bombings in London and the Glasgow attack.
But The Guardian newspaper reported yesterday that Kafeel's email was not opened until 90 minutes after the Glasgow attack. Lawyers in London told The Australian last night that Sabeel had been charged under a provision of the withholding information offence that refers to information that could help police catch the perpetrator of a crime, rather than information that could help to prevent an offence. Sabeel was arrested in Liverpool about eight hours after the airport attack. Police say he should have contacted them before then to tell them about the email from his brother.
The Guardian, quoting government sources, said that two hours before driving the blazing vehicle into Glasgow airport Kafeel had sent a text message with a link to an email that amounted to a "claim of responsibility" for the London and Glasgow attacks.
In the email, he wrote that Sabeel would be shocked to read what he was about to tell him of his involvement in terrorism.
Kafeel, who died on August 2 of burns he received in the attack, claimed in the email that he wanted martyrdom and that his actions were carried out in the name of Allah.
The newspaper also reported that British police had recovered security camera footage from London showing a man running away from one of the failed car bombs, and relatives had identified the man as almost certainly being Kafeel.
Police had also recovered Kafeel's home computer, which showed he had been visiting bomb-making websites.
Sabeel Ahmed is still in custody awaiting trial, along with the passenger in the four-wheel-drive, Iraqi doctor Bilal Abdullah, and a Jordanian doctor, Mohammed Asha, who are both charged with conspiring to cause explosions "of a nature likely to endanger life or cause serious injury".
I keep hearing Kevin Andrews applied the wrong character test... Was it done in Kanji?the good doctor or supporter of haters of our values has won round one
From ABC, Posted Fri Aug 24, 2007
QLD HEALTH SACKS INDIAN DOCTOR OVER DODGY RESUME
Former Gold Coast-based doctor Mohammed Asif Ali has been sacked by Queensland Health.
The Department says it has terminated Dr Ali's employment because of his admission that he deliberately included false information on his resume when he applied for his job.
The director-general says there is no question about Dr Ali's competence as a doctor, but he could face disciplinary action for misconduct.
The matter has been referred to police, the Crime and Misconduct Commission (CMC) and the Medical Board.
Dr Ali flew to India to see his family last week and at the time his lawyer said he wanted to come back to Australia to clear his name.
The discrepancies in his work history were uncovered during an investigation into the failed UK bomb plots.
He gave false information on his resume “The matter has been referred to police, the Crime and Misconduct Commission (CMC) and the Medical Board.”
Pretty heavy stuff.
A very ambiguous remark!the good doctor or supporter of haters of our values has won round one
From ABC, 4 Oct. 07,
OVERSEAS DOCTORS' CREDENTIALS AREN'T REVIEWED: STUDY
A study has found state and federal authorities are reluctant to impose compulsory testing of overseas-trained doctors (Reuters: Fabrizio Bensch )
A new study has found overseas-trained doctors do not have their credentials assessed before they start working in Australian hospitals.
The report, compiled by Monash University's Centre for Population and Urban Research, has found state and federal authorities are reluctant to impose compulsory testing of doctors' medical knowledge and skills for fear they would fail.
Co-author Bob Birrell has told AM the problem has been swept under the carpet.
"These doctors are in the front line of medicine but have not been subject to any systematic test of their medical knowledge or clinical skills," he said.
"More than half of them are coming from non-western medical schools where there are serious issues about whether their training and experience is relevant to Australian patient needs."
Federal Health Minister Tony Abbott says the problem is the responsibility of state medical registration boards.
"If particular boards have approved particular doctors who people think are not adequately trained well, let people say which board has made that mistake and which doctor has been inadequately assessed," he said.
Regardless of what is said.
Haneef was involved with a criminal element to some degree. why leave on a one way ticket if your just going to see your wife for a short trip. The sms and chat room issue was never resolved.
At the end of the day if there is some reason of doubt in any terrorism case i would rather that person is in custody or deported then see a shopping center blown up or similar.
Call me right wing and American but if it was not for a small stupid group of individuals none of this would have ever been a issue.
You can't use terror as a tool to change the policies and actions of any country or group!
If he was a terrorist and blow up a gold coast shopping center, I really doubt any one would care about his civil rights then!
My
the good doctor or supporter of haters of our values has won round one
If and when he comes back, can Haneef sue the government?
Haneef's family wants compensation
Posted 14 minutes ago
Dr Mohamed Haneef has been cleared to work in Australia (File Photo). (The 7.30 Report)
The family of Indian doctor Mohamed Haneef expects the Federal Government to compensate for "turning his life upside down", a relative says.
"We want to see what they come up with," said Imran Siddiqui, a close relative of Dr Haneef's wife and the family spokesman who brought the doctor back home from Australia when he was freed in July.
"When the judiciary says that whatever action you took against this man was wrong, it becomes the duty of the Government to correct itself," Mr Siddiqui said by telephone from the southern Indian city of Mysore.
Today the way was cleared for Dr Haneef - currently performing the annual Hajj pilgrimage in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, with his wife and mother - to return to Australia, when the Federal Court in Melbourne upheld a previous ruling that the government erred in cancelling his visa.
"The courts have restored his honour, it is up to the Government to restore whatever he lost - his career, his establishment in Australia - and make reparations for the damage done to this man," Mr Siddiqui said.
"The previous government did all the damage, they turned this man's life upside down."
But he said the family had no immediate intention to take legal action for compensation.
"We are waiting to see first how the present Government acts," he said.
Dr Haneef was arrested at Brisbane airport on July 2, just days after failed car bombings in London and Glasgow, as he waited to board a flight to India.
Australian authorities detained him for 12 days before charging him with providing support to a terrorist organisation after he gave a mobile phone SIM card to a cousin accused of being involved in the attacks.
When the charge was dropped two weeks later due to a lack of evidence, former immigration minister Kevin Andrews cancelled Dr Haneef's working visa on character grounds, forcing the doctor to return to India.
After his release, Dr Haneef said he wanted his old job back at a Gold Coast hospital, but also said Australian authorities should apologise to India over the affair.
watching the news, you'd guess he was more interested in "clearing his reputation". but time will tell. not much point speculating till there's an announcement one way or the other I guess.
AFP 'could have' leaked Haneef info
Posted 1 hour 17 minutes ago
The solicitor for former Gold Coast-based doctor Asif Ali says police could have leaked information from the doctor's computer to justify an ongoing investigation.
The Australian Federal Police (AFP) have confirmed Dr Ali and his former colleague Dr Mohamed Haneef are still under investigation.
Solicitor Neil Lawler says police allegedly found photos of handguns and chemical symbols on a computer in the house Dr Ali shared with Dr Haneef, but neither doctor knew about the images.
Mr Lawler says he is suspicious about how The Australian newspaper got access to the information.
"If this information has come to light through the AFP then that's clearly to justify their investigation of both Haneef and Ali by smearing their character now that Haneef is completely cleared to return to the country and return [to] his work on the Gold Coast," he said.
"I can't imagine were else it would come from."
The AFP have denied leaking the information.
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