Government wants Haneef deported to contain political fallout

An undated computer generated photo from a video grab shows Mohamed Haneef, an Indian doctor, in India. Photo / Reuters

MELBOURNE - The federal government intends to deport terror suspect Mohamed Haneef to contain political fallout, government sources say.

Melbourne's The Sunday Age newspaper says federal Attorney-General Philip Ruddock can ensure Haneef is deported immediately by withdrawing the Criminal Justice Certificate he issued last week.

It said such a move would contain any political fallout from a case whose legitimacy has come under question.

Quoting an unnamed government source, The Sunday Age said a number of senior political figures wanted the case "shut down" before more damage is done.

"Our best option is to cancel the Criminal Justice Certificate ..... and that is my understanding of what our intentions are," the source told the newspaper.

"Cancel the certificate and get this guy out of Australia."

The Criminal Justice Certificate allows authorities to keep Haneef in Australia pending judicial proceedings.

The greatest damage to the case against Haneef could come from suggestions that a mobile phone SIM card that once belonged to the Indian-trained doctor and was supposedly found in a jeep that was crashed into Glasgow Airport two weeks ago was actually found in another vehicle.

It is now being reported that the SIM card was in a car pulled over in Liverpool with Haneef's cousin Sabeel Ahmed.

The SIM card has been cited as a major link between Haneef and British terrorist plots.

- AAP