Australia PM Howard rules out apology to Haneef

Sydney, July 30: Australian Prime Minister John Howard has ruled out apologising to Indian doctor Mohammed Haneef, who was released on Saturday after almost four weeks in detention in connection with the failed London and Glasgow terror attacks.

Dr Haneef was reunited with his wife and newborn baby in his home town of Bangalore last night, three days after a charge of ''recklessly'' supporting terrorist organisation against him was dropped due to lack of evidence.

The 27-year-old medic, whose visa was cancelled by the Australian authorities even after being cleared of all charges, said he was being victimised by the authorities and the Australian Federal Police (AFP).

The Age quoted his his lawyer Peter Russo as telling the ABC Radio that the government owed Dr Haneef an apology. Mr Russo signalled possible legal action over damage to his client's reputation, the paper reported.

''He is not expecting one (an apology) but I guess if the people who are in line for being sued want to mitigate their losses they might want to think about apologies,'' Mr Russo told ABC Radio.

However, Prime Minister Howard strongly denied any apology to the Indian doctor saying, ''It was was better to be safe than sorry''.

''Mistakes happened from time to time...Australia will not be apologising to Dr Haneef,'' he told reporters here.

Reacting to the bungled investigation into the matter, Mr Howard said, ''Dr Haneef was not victimised and Australia's international reputation has not been harmed by this 'mis-start' to its new anti-terrorism laws.'' Mr Howard said he supported the AFP and Immigration Minister Kevin Andrews, who revoked Dr Haneef's visa earlier this month, just hours after a Brisbane court had granted him bail.

Mr Andrews too asserted that he had only ''applied the rule of law'' in revoking the Indian doctor's visa.

Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said the case showed that Australia's legal system worked well.

UNI