Australia reassures India over detained doctor

Canberra, July 20: Australia moved today to calm Indian concerns over the detention of an Indian doctor on terror charges as the case against him hit a new problem.

Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said he had spoken to his Indian counterpart, Pranab Mukherjee, by phone to update him on the case against Mohamed Haneef, who is charged over links to failed car bomb attacks in Britain in June.

The call came as media reports in Australia said Haneef's mobile phone SIM card had not been found in a burning car at a Glasgow airport terminal as police have alleged in court, undermining the case against the 27-year-old doctor.

''This error will cause the prosecution a lot of grief. It may well be that the prosecution case will collapse,'' leading Australian barrister Peter Faris told ABC radio today.

''I found it a bit odd at the time because the car was burning, and you'd have thought that would have melted the SIM card,'' added Faris, former head of the National Crime Authority, Australia's organised-crime fighting body.

Haneef is charged with recklessly supporting terrorism by providing a relative in Britain with his SIM card.

He has not entered a plea to the charges and remains in jail after the government cancelled his visa and ordered he be kept in immigration detention, despite a magistrate earlier ruling he could be released on bail.

The case is being closely watched in New Delhi, where Indian authorities on Tuesday summoned Australian ambassador John McCarthy to explain Haneef's continued detention.

Downer said he had spoken to his Indian counterpart late yesterday to ensure he was ''fully briefed''. He said the case was not straining bilateral relations, and the two ministers wanted to speed up talks on a legal assistance agreement.

Police in Britain have charged three people over the attacks, including Haneef's second cousin, Sabeel Ahmed, 26, who is accused of failing to disclose information that could have prevented an act of terrorism.

Another of Haneef's second cousins, Kafeel Ahmed, is under police guard in hospital after being badly burned when a jeep was driven into an airport terminal in Glasgow and set ablaze.

After he was arrested, Haneef told police that when he was about to leave for Australia in July 2006, he left his SIM card with Sabeel to use.

ABC radio said today sources in Australia and Britain had confirmed the SIM card was found on Sabeel, and not in the burning car as Australian police had alleged in court.

The report is the latest in a string of media leaks in Australia about the Haneef case.

Newpapers reported on Tuesday that police were considering bringing more charges against the young doctor, prompting Haneef's barrister on Wednesday to release a 142-page transcript of a police interview with Haneef, conducted on July 3, the day after he was detained.

Reuters>