By Neena Bhandari, IANS
Sydney : Twenty-five days after he was arrested in connection with the failed British bombings, the Australian government Friday dropped all charges against Indian doctor Muhammad Haneef with police admitting that there were irregularities in evidence and there was no prospect of conviction.
Haneef, who is likely to be released by afternoon and stay under detention in his Gold Coast home, was not in court when the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), who was reviewing all the material in the case, dropped the charges.
He was still in solitary confinement in Brisbane's high security Wolston Correctional Centre, where he has been held since July 18 on charges of supporting a terrorist organisation by "recklessly" giving his mobile phone SIM card to people planning the British bomb attacks.
He was arrested on July 2 from the Brisbane airport while flying out to India on a one-way ticket.
A huge gathering of protesters outside the Brisbane Magistrate's Court has been shouting slogans, seeking justice for the 27-year-old Gold Coast registrar. There has been mounting demand that those in authority be held accountable for his misery.
A major rally is planned in Sydney this evening at Town Hall where people will be demanding that his visa be reinstated and he should be compensated.
As protests mounted, Australian Federal Police (AFP) Commissioner Mick Keelty told reporters that the force "has acted professionally and within the bound of law".
Haneef's relative Imran Siddiqui told Sky News, "Haneef has been watching the TV and knows what is going around."
Reports here say that he will be taken straight to the airport and deported to India, but Siddiqui said, "We want his name cleared. We want him to go on free… rather than be deported."
Haneef's solicitor Peter Russo has said he would fight any move by Immigration Minister Kevin Andrews to have his client deported. Andrews had cancelled Haneef's 457 work hours after he was granted bail by the Brisbane Magistrate's Court, ensuring that Haneef remained behind bars.
Russo has lodged an appeal, which will come up for hearing on Aug 8, against the decision to cancel the visa in the Brisbane Federal Court.
Whether the minister will reinstate Haneef's visa remains to be seen, but on talkback radio, people are heaving a sigh of relief that finally justice has prevailed in this tragedy of errors.
One caller said, "I am ashamed of my country and the people responsible for this case. What Dr Haneef has gone through, he will never forget in his life."
On Wednesday, the DPP Damian Bugg had initiated reviewing all material and proceedings in the doctor's case.
Former chairperson of the National Crime Authority Peter Faris had said Wednesday: "This is the end of the case against Mr Haneef. I have no doubt that the reason that [Mr] Bugg has intervened is to find a way out of the impasse that the DPP finds itself in, which is, to put it bluntly, they have no case."