The burnt wreckage of a Jeep Cherokee vehicle as it was removed from the departure entrance at Glasgow airport last month. Photo / Reuters
Australia has released terrorism suspect Mohammed Haneef after the collapse of the case claiming he supported relatives implicated in last month's failed bombings in Britain.
Federal Director of Public Prosecutions Damien Bugg yesterday dropped a charge of recklessly providing resources to a terrorist organisation against the 27-year-old doctor
who was arrested on July 2.
And Immigration Minister Kevin Andrews further backed down from his earlier determination to deport Dr Haneef on character grounds, instead releasing him from detention.
But Dr Haneef will not be allowed to leave Australia, and his lawyers said they would continue with their August 8 Federal Court appeal against the cancellation of his work visa.
Dr Haneef was arrested as he tried to leave Australia on a one-way ticket to his home in Bangalore, India, and spent 12 days in detention without being charged.
He was alleged to have given a second cousin a mobile phone SIM card allegedly found in the possession of another cousin severely burned when an explosives-laden Jeep Cherokee was rammed into bollards protecting a Glasgow airport terminal.
Dr Haneef was also alleged to have lived with one suspect in Liverpool.
Yesterday, Mr Bugg said both allegations were wrong and there was no reasonable prospect of a conviction.
Federal Police Commissioner Mick Keelty said investigations wouldcontinue until all questions about the Australian connection had been exhausted.
He said these would involve several people in Australia, including Dr Haneef, and declined to rule out the possibility of further charges.
In Bangalore, Dr Haneef's wife, Firdous Arshiya, said she was extremely pleased the charges had been dropped and that the "truth has come out".
"I thank the Indian Government, our Prime Minister, our Minister for External Affairs for the support they have given," she said. "It wouldn't have been possible without their help and intervention."
