I'm innocent, says freed Indian doctor

Sydney, July 29: An Indian doctor freed from jail after Australia dropped terrorism charges against him today said he was innocent and would have told the authorities had he known anything about planned bomb attacks in Britain.

Mohamed Haneef was released from prison on Friday after a charge of supporting terrorism was dropped due to a lack of evidence connecting him with a failed car bomb plot.

He voluntarily flew home to India yesterday after 25 days in custody.

''I never imagined, even in the remotest corner of my brain, that I would be labelled with such a defaming thing,'' Haneef told Australia's Channel Nine television.

When asked if he was a terrorist, Haneef said ''No, it's not in my nature to ever support or to be involved in such activities at all.'' Haneef, 27, had been charged with recklessly supporting terrorism by providing a relative in Britain - his second cousin Sabeel Ahmed - with his mobile phone SIM card.

Prosecutors had told an Australian court Haneef's SIM card was found in a burning jeep in that had been driven into an airport terminal in Glasgow.

But prosecution lawyers agreed on Friday the SIM card was in fact found at Sabeel's home in Liverpool. Haneef had all along said that he had left his SIM card with Sabeel in Liverpool in mid-2006, when Haneef left Britain to work in Australia.

''If I had known anything, I definitely would have let the authorities (know),'' he said.

Despite the collapse of the case, Australia Immigration Minister Kevin Andrews has ruled out reinstating Haneef's work visa, barring a possible court ruling to overturn his decision.

Haneef's lawyers have submitted a court application to appeal against the immigration office's decision to revoke the visa.

Haneef's arrest has ignited concerns about Australia's new counter terrorism laws, which allow authorities to detain individuals for an unspecified period.

The case, which has resulted in a wave of embarrassing headlines for the government, has also drawn blistering criticisms against the Australian Federal Police (AFP) for prosecuting the doctor despite the lack of strong evidence.

But AFP Commissioner Mick Keelty has defended his department's handling of the case and said errors such as where Haneef's mobile SIM card was found, were initially made by British authorities.

''Haneef attempted to leave the country. If we had let him go, we would have been accused of letting a terrorist escape our shores,'' Keelty was quoted as saying in the Sydney Morning Herald.

Police in Britain have charged three people over the attempted attacks, including Sabeel, who is accused of failing to disclose information that could have prevented an attack.

Reuters>