Faced with an on-rushing deadline when Mohammed Haneef would either have to be charged or released, Australian police have charged him with giving "reckless" support to the would-be Glasgow bombers:
WTF is "reckless" support? Reckless driving I understand - but what is "reckless" support for a terror group? Not assuming everyone is a terrorist?GOLD Coast doctor Mohamed Haneef has been charged with providing support to a terrorist organisation, the Australian Federal Police (AFP) said in a statement today.
Police will allege Gold Coast doctor Mohamed Haneef supported a terrorist organisation by "recklessly'' giving his mobile phone SIM card to people planning car bomb attacks in the UK. Dr Haneef, an Indian national who worked as a registrar at Gold Coast Hospital, will today face Brisbane Magistrates Court.
"The specific allegation involves recklessness rather than intention,'' Australian Federal Police Commissioner Mick Keelty said today."The allegation being that he was reckless about some of the support he provided to that group, in particular the provision of his SIM card for the use of the group.''
(From: The Australian)1
Support implies knowledge and intention. Simply passing on your old SIM, which won't be any use to you overseas, does not count - unless it can be shown that Haneef passed on the card as a deliberate contribution to the grand plot. "Here, Khalid, my SIM card. Allah willing, with my SIM card to aid you, you will achieve glorious martyrdom." If he is part of the network, he's the shoddiest, most lackadiasical terrorist ever seen. Mohammed Atta crashed a jet into the World Trade Centre. Sidique Khan blew himself on the London Underground. Even Kafeel Ahmed managed to inflict near fatal burns on himself, and earned himself a kicking from the righteous John Smeaton, Glasgow baggage handler, smoker and warrior for freedom. Haneef lent his cousin his SIM card. That's commitment.
Anyway, about the SIM card. It was given to the wannabe martyrs when Haneefleft Britain. If you want to retain your number when you go emigrate, you have to go through a long and painful process to get the network to release it so you can register it overseas. Why would Haneef bother? Mobiles are cheap, he could buy one in Australia. So he did what most people would do - he gave the sim card, which had some free callnig time on it, to his mate:
Official documents cited by The Australian newspaper yesterday said Dr HaneefAbsolutely, entirely reasonable and absolutely nil reason to detain a man, destroy his reputation and cause such misery for him, his wife and new born daughter.
gave the SIM card to Sabeel Ahmed before he moved to Australia from Britain last
year so that his cousin could take advantage of free minutes left on his mobile
phone plan.
Mobile phones, as mentioned before, are cheap. If the terrorists needed one they could have bought a new one. I can't believe a bunch of Doctors bent on martyrdom were too tight-fisted to pay for a new phone. This would have ensured Haneef wasn't linked to the plot. Granted, the total failure of the recent attacks suggests the would-be martyrs were not too bright, but Haneef, if the police story is to hold together, has to be pretty cunning. Not only did he manage to ensure he wasn't one of these destined for martyrdom (always a good indicator of intelligence) but he impreganted his wife nine months prior to the plot, and somehow ensured that his daughter was born and fell sick at just the right time to give him an excuse to leave the country. Surely, such a dastardly intellect would have foreseen the dangers of lending dim cousin Sabeel his SIM?
Basically, it is a made up charge. The police don't have anything substantial against Haneef, inspite of detaining him for almost a fortnight. So, rather than let him go, they have invented this preposterous charge so they can hang onto him a bit longer, in the hope that something better will turn up. It would be laughable if it was not so dismally pathetic.
1 - "Haneef charged with 'supporting terrorism'", The Australian, July 14, 2007. (http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,22072582-1702,00.html)
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