On July 14, Gold Coast doctor Mohamed Haneef was charged with "providing support to a terrorist organisation" after 12 days in detention without any charge. His detention without charges or a trial shows the danger to civil liberties posed by federal and state "anti-terror" laws.
Haneef was arrested on July 2 at Brisbane Airport attempting to board a flight to Bangalore. While the corporate media has since constantly described him as "linked" to the recent unsuccessful terrorist attacks in Glasgow and London, that link is tenuous. Before coming to Australia from Liverpool, England, Haneef gave his SIM card to a relative because the contract was still valid. The relative apparently received a call from one of the alleged would-be bombers.
During the 12 days that Haneef was held without charge, an investigation involving 230 Australian Federal Police officers (and twice the number of their British counterparts), failed to produce any evidence linking him with the attacks in Britain other than that he had given his SIM card to his relative. It is for this that he has now been charged and faces a possible 15 years' jail.
Meanwhile, another Queensland doctor, Dr John Di Palma of Innisfail, was found in possession of 50 weapons including four automatic assault rifles, two Uzi machine-pistols, shotguns, 100,000 rounds of ammunition, silencers and a bullet-proof vest. Innisfail District Court Judge Sarah Bradley allowed him to walk free on a two-year suspended sentence saying: "you did grow up in rural Australia and on a farm, and I accept that you have a deep and almost lifelong interest in firearms".
Haneef's prolonged detention has highlighted one of the concerns raised by civil libertarians about the "anti-terror" laws since they were introduced in 2004: the period of detention without charge can be continually extended by a magistrate in a secret court.
Haneef's detention was extended three times. Having not been charged with an offence, he was unable to apply for bail. Furthermore, for more than a week neither Haneef nor his lawyers were given any information on the allegations against him.
"It's impossible for him to have a fair hearing before the magistrate on whether he should continue to be detained unless his lawyer has knowledge of the case which is being made against him", the Queensland Council for Civil Liberties president Michael Cope said on July 10. "At the present time, the magistrate is presumably only getting half the case — he's just getting the police version."
This has not prevented the corporate media and Attorney-General Philip Ruddock from making unsubstantiated allegations prejudicing the possibility of a fair trial. For example, much has been made of the fact that when Haneef was arrested at Brisbane Airport, he was traveling on a one-way ticket — the implication being that he was fleeing Australia in the wake of the botched attacks in Britain.
This is how Ruddock put it on July 9: "The distinguishing factor in relation to Dr Haneef ... was that he was intent on leaving Australia ... He had a one-way ticket with him."
Only later did we hear from Haneef's family that there was a perfectly good explanation for him buying a one-way ticket: his wife, Firdous, had just given birth and the family was planning to return to Australia together after acquiring a visa for the child.
The media also initially reported that Haneef was attempting to leave the country without having told his employer, the Gold Coast Hospital, until the hospital set the record straight, explaining that he had applied for leave.
The circumstances of Haneef's detention have also been condemned by Amnesty International. "The whole case against Haneef undermines the presumption of innocence", Amnesty spokesperson Nicole Bieske said on July 12. "The whole situation flies in the face of the rule of law. If his case goes to trial, the presumption of innocence has already been significantly affected. If he is released he will not be able to return to normal life without suspicion."
Haneef's treatment was condemned as "disgusting" by Terry Hicks, father of former Guantanamo Bay detainee David Hicks.
ALP leader Kevin Rudd, on the other hand, expressed confidence in the Australian Federal Police's handling of the case and, on July 12, pledged to keep the "anti-terror" laws if the ALP won government.