By IINA,
Melbourne : Indian doctor Mohammad Haneef, who was detained in Australia in connection with the failed London bombings, was today cleared by a special inquiry which said he was ‘wrongly charged’ in the case, prompting the government to admit that lapses occurred in the handling of the episode. However, government will not initiate any action against any Australian official who handled the case and would leave it to the agencies to decide whether any disciplinary action was needed, Press Trust of India reported. A report by retired Supreme Court judge John Clarke, released today found that Haneef was wrongly charged and detained on the Gold Coast last year over suspected links to terrorist acts in Britain, media reports said here.
Clarke said he found “no evidence that he (Haneef) was associated with or had foreknowledge of the terrorist events” in London and Glasgow in June 2007. Federal Attorney-General Robert McClelland said mistakes were made from officer level to the highest level. However, he added that he had full confidence in all agency heads. “At the end of the day political leaders and agency heads must accept responsibility for errors that occurred on their watch,” he said. McClelland also said the government had accepted the recommendations of Clarke, including the one for an independent review of the national anti-terrorism laws.
“We weren’t on a witchhunt”, McClelland said, adding that no one at any level in any agency would necessarily face any punishment. The Labor government would leave it to the agencies to decide whether any disciplinary action should be taken against a long list of people whose actions were grossly incompetent, he said. “We’re not going to execute one to educate a thousand,” McClelland said. He also maintained that current government had no plans to make any apology to Haneef, passing the buck to former Prime Minister John Howard’s government. However, McClelland said he would make no criticism of any members of the former government, including Howard, Immigration Minister Kevin Andrews and Attorney General Philip Ruddock.
Meanwhile, Andrews reiterated today that he had acted in national interest in pursuing Haneef by withdrawing his visa. He said the inquiry had cleared him of any improper motive in his actions on the Haneef case. “The government has spent four million Australian dollars to be told what Justice Spender found last year: that I did not act with an improper motive,” he said and added, “The recent events in India (the Mumbai terror attacks) remind us that we cannot be complacent about national security. The Australian people expected me to act – I had the courage to do so.”
Meanwhile, in a major relief for Mohammad Haneef, the country’s police scrapped its probe into the case. “At the present time, there is insufficient evidence to institute proceedings against Dr. Haneef for any criminal offence,” said Australian Federal Police (AFP) in a statement. “AFP has concluded its active inquiries, although some long-standing overseas inquiries are yet to be fully resolved,” it added. AFP accepted the inquiry findings and said the agency is committed to work with the government to ensure the recommendations are implemented.
“AFP agrees with the description given by the Attorney-General that the Clarke report is balanced, thorough and constructive as well as considering it to be a comprehensive account of the events and circumstances of this particular investigation.” “The AFP is strongly committed to working with the Australian Government to ensure all the inquiry’s recommendations are implemented,” it said.
But the federal police also defended itself, saying all actions were undertaken “in good faith and in best interests of public safety, given the circumstances at the time”. The federal police said the inquiry had found no evidence of corruption or politicization of the police nor of any mistreatment of Haneef by federal police members.