Muhamed Haneef

Muhamed Haneef (born 29 September 1979) is an Indian born doctor who was falsely accused of aiding terrorists, and left Australia upon cancellation of his visa amid great political controversy.

His visa was later reinstated and he was given some compensation.

He subsequently studied medicine at the Tripura Medical College & Dr. B.R. Ambedkar Memorial Teaching Hospital from 1997 to 2002, achieving a first-class degree.

He was the first person arrested and detained under the 2005 Australian Anti-Terrorism Act and the first to have his detention extended under the Act, being detained for twelve days without being charged with a crime.

Mick Keelty, the Australian Federal Police Commissioner, acknowledged that Haneef "may have done nothing wrong and may at the end of the day be free to go."

At the time of his arrest, Haneef was attempting to make a one-way trip to India.

This led authorities to believe Haneef's attempted exit from Australia on 2 July was directly linked to the arrest of his cousin Kafeel Ahmed, who suffered 90% burns after the Glasgow Airport attack on 30 June.

They discounted the possibility that Haneef was returning to see his six-day-old daughter, who had neonatal jaundice, and wife who had given birth to her first child by emergency caesarean section.

Following his arrest, Haneef's family claimed that any link between him and the terrorists is only tenuous, and a case of guilt by association, that he was not involved in the plot, and that he was returning to India to see his wife and daughter.

Haneef's father-in-law said the doctor wanted to take his wife and daughter back to Australia after getting the infant a passport, and so travelled without a return ticket.

The AFP claimed in a court affidavit that Haneef, "had no explanation as to why he did not have a return ticket" from India to Australia.

While the police affidavit stated Haneef "had no explanation" about his one-way ticket, the record of interview shows that he gave a detailed explanation to police while answering questions.

Haneef told police that, as he did not have funds in his Australian bank account, his father-in-law had booked and paid for the one-way ticket with an understanding that "when I go there we can arrange for the coming back ticket. Because I just got 7 days' leave approved".

Haneef worked at Halton Hospital in Runcorn Cheshire, before applying for a job in Australia under that country's temporary skilled worker scheme, after reading an advertisement in the March 2006 issue of the British Medical Journal.

In Australia, he worked as a registrar at the Gold Coast Hospital from September 2006, and lived in an apartment several blocks from the hospital.

Australian authorities alleged that as Haneef left Britain he recklessly provided assistance to a terrorist organisation by leaving his relative, Sabeel Ahmed, a SIM card and the balance of a two-year mobile phone contract to use and pay off when he left Britain in July 2006.

Relatives said that he left the SIM card behind to save money by not surrendering the remaining value of the contract to the telephone company.

The prosecutor claimed the SIM card was found inside the vehicle used in the Glasgow attack.

This allegation, central to the case, proved to be false and investigating British police officers concluded that the case was driven by politics rather than policing.

Mick Keelty revealed that Scotland Yard had initially told Australian Federal Police investigators that the SIM card was found in the jeep confirming that the conduit for the SIM card error was the Australian Federal Police, contrary to Mick Keelty's previous denials.

A review by the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), Damian Bugg, revealed the allegations connected to the SIM card use were an "error of fact".

Haneef was arrested on 2 July 2007 at Brisbane Airport, Brisbane, Australia on suspicion of terror-related activities.

He is the second cousin once removed of Kafeel Ahmed and Sabeel Ahmed, the operatives in the 2007 Glasgow Airport attack.

Haneef's ensuing detention became the longest without charge in recent Australian history, which caused great controversy in Australia and India.

Haneef was released when the Director of Public Prosecutions withdrew its charge on 27 July 2007, whereby his passport was returned and he departed Australia voluntarily on 29 July 2007.

Haneef's visa cancellation was overturned by the Federal Court on 21 August 2007, with the decision being reiterated by the full bench of the court on 21 December 2007, resulting in Haneef having his Australian visa returned.

Haneef was arrested on 2 July 2007 at Brisbane Airport, Brisbane, Australia for suspected terror-related activities, specifically in connection to the attack at Glasgow Airport in the UK, a few days earlier.

He was about to board an international flight.

The AFP claimed in a court affidavit that Haneef told police in his first interview that he lived in Britain with the two terrorism suspects, his cousins: "On 2 July and 3 July 2007 Dr Haneef participated in a taped record of interview with the AFP and stated the following: Whilst in the UK he resided with suspects 1 and 2 (alleged suicide bomber Kafeel Ahmed and his brother Sabeel Ahmed), at 13 Bentley Road, Liverpool."

In subsequent Immigration Department documents used to advise Australian Immigration Minister Kevin Andrews, senior public servant Peter White asserted: "Dr Haneef advised the AFP that he resided with Dr Sabeel Ahmed at a boarding house located at 13 Bentley Road, Liverpool, UK."

This error was not corrected by the AFP, and revealed by Hedley Thomas on 20 July in The Australian.

However, in the record of the interview, Haneef told police that he lived at 13 Bentley Road, Liverpool, with several doctors, whom he named.

None of those named are known to be suspects in the Glasgow or London incidents.

Haneef told police that he had moved out of 13 Bentley Road by the time that Sabeel Ahmed moved there.

In December 2010, Haneef returned to Australia to seek damages for loss of income, interruption of his professional work, and emotional distress.

He was awarded compensation from the Australian government.

The amount of compensation awarded was not disclosed, but was described by sources as "substantial".

Raised a Muslim, Haneef is from Mudigere, in the coffee-rich Chikkamagaluru district of the state of Karnataka in India, where his late father, Shami Khaleel, was a teacher.

Haneef's father died in a road accident when he was 18.

Shortly after this Haneef moved with his family to Bangalore, and he completed his pre-university certification course at SDM College in Ujire in the neighbouring district of Dakshina Kannada.