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Inquiry into bungled Indian doctor case set to begin in Australia
by sremmah3 | March 12, 2008 at 08:31 pm | 298 views | 2 comments
Former Australian immigration minister Kevin Andrews and Australian Federal Police commissioner Mick Keelty, will be asked to give evidence before a judicial inquiry into the bungled handling of former terrorist suspect Mohamed Haneef.
The Rudd government is today expected to announce the details of the inquiry, to be chaired by Supreme Court judge John Clarke QC.
Though requested to appear before former New South Wales Supreme Court Judge John Clarke QC, Australian news media reports have said it is unclear if the inquiry has the legal jurisdiction to force Mr Andrews and Mr Keelty to front the inquiry.
Both the Federal immigration minister and the Australian
Federal Police Commissioner are likely to be invited to
give evidence before the inquiry, though it is unclear whether they can be compelled to appear.
The investigation concerns the 12-day detention of Haneef, an Indian doctor who was practicing at a Gold Coast, Queensland hospital. Haneef was held suspected of involvement in terrorist activities, specifically related to last year's failed British terrorist bombings by a group which included his second cousin Sabeel Ahmed.
The charge of involvement in terrorist activities was later dismissed by a judge, yet Kevin Andrews, the immigration minister in the Howard government, refused to allow Dr Haneef to be allowed bail revoking the Indian doctor's passport on "character grounds".
Haneef was deported to his home country of India however, upon a change of government in Australia in November, the decision was reversed.
The case "wasn't the prosecuting authorities' finest hour," said Opposition frontbencher Tony Abbott.
The bungled prosecution of Mohamed Haneef was a black mark against the record of investigators, Federal Opposition frontbencher Tony Abbott says.
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March 12, 2008 at 08:31 pm by sremmah3, 298 views, 2 comments
Author
Crowd Power
sremmah3
Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
parminder
Chandigarh, ut, India
Tom van B
Masterton, New Zealand, New Zealand
Daniel Neun
Berlin, Germany (Deutschland)
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Comments (2)
at 20:52 on March 12th, 2008
I recall this was a pretty shocking affair at the time. How is the inquiry being viewed in Australia?
at 21:12 on March 12th, 2008
Hello there Rachel.
Thanks for the flag.
You are perfectly correct, the case was big news here in Australia at
the time, so much so that at one point Australian/Indian diplomatic ties were
strained.
The original investigation into Dr Haneef tended to be viewed by the media through the prism of the election campaign which was being waged at the time and the failed terror attacks in London and Glasgow. The combined pressure of both events led (I assume) to Immigration Minister Kevin Andrews' somewhat inept handling of the case.
The issue has been out of the news for a fair few months now and the election over so cooler analysis hopefully will prevail in the inquiry. I think most people I've spoken to about the Haneef case claim it was a situation where the government overstepped the mark, though we shall have to wait for the inquiry's verdict on that.