Oz Police's secret file had no incriminating terror evidence against Dr Haneef

Sydney, Aug 15 : It has been revealed that the secret documents on the basis of which former Australian Immigration Minister Kevin Andrews had blindly relied to cancel Indian doctor Mohamed Haneef's visa, actually contained no evidence of criminality or involvement in terrorism against the doctor. Instead, it simply established an association between Dr Haneef and his cousins Sabeel and Kafeel Ahmed, who were allegedly responsible for the botched terror attacks in London and Glasgow last year.

The Australian Police had refused to publicly disclose the secret dossier, but according to several sources who had seen the document, it contained "no evidence" linking Dr Haneef to the terror attacks or any criminal activities.

Australian Federal Police's (AFP) Commissioner Mick Keelty had refused to publicly release the contents of the dossier on the grounds they would be "prejudicial" to Sabeel Ahmed's trial in Britain. His brother Kafeel died of burns sustained in the Glasgow attack.

An official in the former Howard government said that the file didn't contain any incriminating evidence against Dr Haneef.

"The brief didn't go to criminality. It wasn't concerned with any incriminating evidence against Haneef but went to the question of his association with the guys in the UK who were suspected to have been involved in criminal conduct," The Australian quoted a former Howard government official as saying.

Dr Haneef was arrested on July 2 last year after his mobile-phone SIM card was linked to the British attacks. He was charged with providing support to a terrorist organisation. The commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions dropped the charge for lack of evidence, and the matter is now the subject of a judicial inquiry by former NSW Supreme Court judge John Clarke QC.

Rod Hodgson, a lawyer representing Dr Haneef, said that the latest revelations brought into question Keelty's and Andrews' willingness to come clean with the Australian public. "All of this is damning of Mr Keelty and Mr Andrews, who have both spent the last 13 months variously pretending that they had evidence incriminating Dr Haneef that they cannot share publicly," the paper quoted Hodgson as saying.

ANI