Five Indian doctors released, Haneef not charged yet

By Neena Bhandari, IANS

Sydney : The Australian Federal Police have released all the five Indian doctors in Western Australia and Sydney after they were interrogated about possible links to the foiled bomb attacks in London and Glasgow. No charges have been laid against them or Mohammad Haneef, who is still in police custody in Brisbane.


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Haneef was arrested on July 2 at Brisbane airport while leaving for India.

Australian Federal Attorney General Philip Ruddock has not ruled out the five doctors being questioned again if any issues arise out of the examination of the more than 30,000 documents, computers and mobile phones seized by the police.

Ruddock told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation: "If this is all a mistake, some people's lives are going to be turned upside down, but if we fail to pursue these matters, we will be held accountable. You are dealing with people's lives…a presumption of innocence exists in every police inquiry."

Authorities seem to be more confident of an international conspiracy in the failed Britain bomb attacks. Australian Federal Police Commissioner Mick Keelty said, "links to the UK are becoming more concrete".

Meanwhile, a former Australian High Court Chief Justice, Sir Gerard Brennan, at a conference here had said the anti-terrorism laws work against common law by enabling suspects to be imprisoned without trial.

He said: "The terrorism legislation and the actions to be taken under it do impair the freedoms and immunities which the common law protects."

Haneef is being held under anti-terrorism laws. It is worth noting that unlike Britain, Australia doesn't have a human rights law.

It has emerged that the Ahmed brothers – Kafeel (Khalid) and Sabeel – had applied for jobs with Queensland Health last year, but were declined because of insufficient inexperience.

Meanwhile, Gold Coast Hospital's management is hoping that 26-year-old Mohammed Asif Ali, the other doctor arrested in Brisbane and later released, will return to work. Queensland State Health Minister Stephen Robertson said: "He's shown himself to be a good doctor and very popular. We want him back because we need his work."

According to local media reports, Ruddock has said he would once again ask the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation to investigate whether the Islamic group Hizb ut Tahrir should be listed as a terrorist group. The group is said to have links with one of the central figures in the alleged British terrorist cell, the Iraqi-trained doctor Bilal Abdullah.

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