Detained Indian Doctor's wife appeals to Indian Govt

Bangalore, July 14 (UNI) Firdous Haneef, wife of Mohammad Haneef, the 27-year-old Indian doctor charged with abetting the failed Glasgow bomb attack by the Australian police, today appealed to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Defence Minister A K Antony to intervene and help to secure the safe release of her husband.

Speaking to mediapersons at her residence here, she reiterated that her husband was innocent and the framing of charge on her husband was ''baseless''. ''Every Indian and Australian citizen know that Dr Haneef is innocent,'' the doctor's wife claimed.

Firdous appealed to the Indian authorities and the Prime Minister, through the media, to facilitate telephonic talk with her husband. Earlier, the Australian authorities had allowed Dr Haneef to speak to her for a minute and the latter had reportedly advised his wife not to panic on his arrest and pleaded innocence during his brief talk with her.

The Australian police had arrested Dr Haneef, at the instance of Britain police, in the eastern city of Brisbane on July 2 last, when he tried to board a flight with a one-way ticket to return to India.

Australian police had charged Dr Haneef with abetting the terrorists, his cousins, by giving his SIM card to them, after subjecting him to 12-days detention and interrogation. The move of the Australian police to frame charges against Dr Haneef had dashed the hopes of the family members, who were anxiously waiting for his release.

Dr Haneef, who had migrated to Australia from Britain last year was working in Gold Coast hospital in Australia, before being arrested by the Australian police in connection with the failed Glasgow international airport's car blast. The Indian doctor was said to be the cousin of Mohammed Kafeel, who had allegedly hatched the blast conspiracy and driven the burning jeep into the airport.

UNI