By IANS
Bangalore : Indian doctor Muhammad Haneef’s family, overjoyed that an Australian court had Tuesday restored his work visa, said here that they were ready for a long fight.
As news came in that Australian Immigration Minister Kevin Andrews would challenge the verdict of the Brisbane Federal Court, quashing his decision to cancel Haneef’s visa, the doctor’s brother-in-law Imran Siddiqui said: “We have faith in Australian judiciary and will fight the case.”
Siddiqui, a cousin of Haneef’s wife Firdous, added: “Haneef is happy and so is the entire family. We are very gratified by the decision of the court.”
Haneef and Firdous were not available, as they have been advised by their Australian lawyer Peter Russo to refrain from commenting on the visa issue till the legal battle ends.
Haneef’s father-in-law Afshaq Ahmed said: “We have no words to express our joy. We are very, very happy.”
“Now everything is clear,” an elated Ahmed told IANS.
He said no decision had been taken on whether Haneef would go back to Australia to work in the Gold Coast Hospital in Queensland where he was a registrar when he was arrested July 2.
“It is for them (Haneef and Firdous) to decide,” he said.
“We will not be suggesting to them whether to go back or not. We will support whatever decision they take,” Ahmed said.
Acting Chief Justice Jeffery Spender of the Federal Court in Brisbane has ruled that the immigration minister was wrong in cancelling Haneef’s visa.
He, however, stayed the operation of his verdict for 21 days to allow Australian government to appeal against it, if it chooses so.
Within hours of Spender’s ruling in favour of Haneef, Andrews said he stood by his decision to cancel the Indian doctor’s visa on the ground that he had “failed character test” and the verdict would be appealed.
Haneef was in a Brisbane jail for 25 days from July 2 and returned to Bangalore July end after the Australian police dropped terror charges against him.
He was charged with being “reckless” in giving his mobile SIM card to his cousin Sabeel Ahmed while leaving Britain for Australia to work in the Gold Coast Hospital.
Sabeel is facing trial in Britain for not informing the authorities about the plot.
Sabeel’s elder brother Kafeel Ahmed, a mechanical engineer, is believed to be the man who drove a gasoline-filled jeep into Glasgow airport on June 30, a day after two explosive-filled Mercedes Benz cars were found in London.
Kafeel died early this month of the 90 percent burns he suffered in the incident, but his body has not been claimed by his parents in Bangalore because British authorities have not confirmed his identity.