Appeal flagged over doctor's Australia detention

CANBERRA, July 10 (Reuters) An Indian doctor held in Australia may test tough anti-terrorism laws with a court appeal, his lawyer said today as police said they wanted more time to probe possible links to the foiled British car bomb attacks.

Australian Federal Police Commissioner Mick Keelty said a 48-hour detention extension for Queensland-based hospital doctor Mohamed Haneef, approved by a judge yesterday, might not be long enough to complete investigations in Britain, Australia and India.

''If it's required we will go back to the magistrate. What we're doing here is applying the law that we operate under in these circumstances,'' Keelty told Australian radio.

Haneef's lawyer, Peter Russo, said he was considering a Federal Court appeal following revelations that police had allowed a cleaner into Haneef's flat between two searches of the unit, possibly damaging evidence against him.

''It's an area I'm not completely familiar with, but from discussions I have had with people I believe that that would be our next port of call,'' Russo said.

Keelty denied that evidence had been compromised, however, and said the second search was for ''another type of forensic test'' unaffected by the cleaning service.

Haneef, 27, was detained eight days ago and is one of six Indian doctors to be questioned in Australia over the suspected al Qaeda-linked plot in Britain. The others have been released.

Police had asked for a five-day extension, but a Brisbane judge ruled on Monday that they should have only until 0800 GMT tomorrow, after which police would have 12 hours to question Haneef or seek another detention warrant. A hearing is expected on Wednesday morning.

''FAIR HEARING IMPOSSIBLE'' The anti-terrorism laws being used for the first time to detain Haneef came in for criticism from lawyers and rights academics, who said the doctor was being denied basic legal rights as police kept secret the allegations against him.

''It's impossible for him to have a fair hearing. At the present time, the magistrate is presumably only getting half the case, he's just getting the police version,'' said Michael Cope, president of the Queensland Council for Civil Liberties.

George Williams, a Sydney-based legal academic, said Haneef was in legal limbo while police decided whether to charge, free or extradite him to Britain.

''He has less protection than if he was actually charged,'' Williams told local newspapers.

Barrister Stephen Keim, who will oppose police over a warrant extension, said tomorrow would be an ''interesting time'' as the anti-terrorism laws used against Haneef came under more scrutiny.

Two car bombs primed to explode in London's bustling theatre and nightclub district were discovered early on June 29. The following day a jeep crashed into the terminal building at Glasgow airport and burst into flames.

A police agent has travelled to India to work with authorities there on more than 30,000 documents seized during searches in three Australian states. Indian police have also seized CDs of radical Islamic video material.

Australian Attorney-General Philip Ruddock said the laws were reasonable and in reality were likely to lead to shorter detention periods than in Britain, where police were able to hold militant suspects for up to 28 days without charge.

''Something in the order of 120 gigabytes of computer data is being examined. That's the equivalent of 31,000 single-page documents. It's one of the reasons the matter takes so long,'' he said.

REUTERS AM BD1457