Monday, 7 January 2008

Haneef triumphant

Just before Christmas, the appeal by former government of Australia, against the court ruling restoring Mohammed Haneef's visa was dismissed:

An Indian doctor briefly charged over failed bomb attacks in the UK in June has won a court battle to return to Australia on a work visa.

The Federal Court of Australia dismissed an appeal by government lawyers against a judge's decision to restore Mohamed Haneef's visa.

Ex-Immigration Minister Kevin Andrews revoked the former Gold Coast Hospital registrar's visa on character grounds.

Dr Haneef was accused of links with failed attacks in London and Glasgow.

The decision by the former immigration minister to cancel the Indian doctor's visa was quashed by a federal court judge in August. (1)
So "hurrah" for that. Good to see that even when berserk rightwing racist goons seize control of the state with a combination of bribery and racist incitement, the courts are still strong enough to stand up to power. And that the Aussie public will (eventually) see through lies and charlatanism and boot the lying charlatans out.

There needs to be an inquiry into the case, however, to see how a reasonable action (detaining the cousin of a terrorist bomber as he tried to flee the country) developed into an attempt to thwart the will of the courts (2). The shameless lies and smears (3) of Kevin Andrews and his apparent personal vendaetta against Haneef need to be investigated as well.

1 - 'Haneef wins Australia visa appeal ,' unattributed BBC article, 21st of December, 2007. (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7155103.stm)
2 - 'Secret plan to keep Haneef in detention even after bail exposed,' unattributed article in Thaindian News, 14th of November, 2007. (http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/world-news/secret-plan-to-keep-haneef-in-detention-even-after-bail-exposed_1003450.html)
3 - As described previously on lefthandpalm: (http://lefthandpalm.blogspot.com/2007/08/mad-dog-andrews-continues-snarling.html)

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