Howard under fire over doctor error

SYDNEY, Saturday (AFP) - The Australian press on Saturday said the bungled prosecution of an Indian doctor allegedly involved in failed British car bombings was an error that undermined confidence in anti-terror laws. Newspapers said the evidence against Mohamed Haneef was flimsy at best, with several suggesting the prosecution was overzealously pursued for political reasons in the lead-up to a national election in Australia later this year.

“Injustice” ran the banner front page headline on Sydney's Daily Telegraph, with a photograph of Haneef leaving custody Friday night alongside the sub-heading “portrait of a man whose life was ruined.”The newspaper questioned why Haneef was still facing the prospect of deportation when the evidence used by Immigration Minister Kevin Andrews to cancel his working visa was the same that failed in court Friday.

“His life will never be the same, with the international spotlight on the case ensuring his name will be forever linked to the bungled investigation” it said. Haneef was charged with providing “reckless” support to a terrorist group because last year he gave a mobile phone SIM card to his second cousin Sabeel Ahmed, who has been charged with withholding information following last month's failed bombings in London and Glasgow.

Sabeel's older brother Kafeel Ahmed remains under police guard in a British hospital with severe burns after allegedly ramming a blazing car into Glasgow Airport on June 30. The Australian Associated Press news agency said Prime Minister John Howard's conservative government saw the case as a way to focus public attention on its favoured topic of national security before the election.

It said that in the process, the Australian concept of a “fair go” was lost as Andrews exercised his power to arbitrarily cancel Haneef's visa.“The end effect of this matter is that an innocent man has spent a month behind bars, been vilified in the public arena, had his right to live and work in Australia removed -- and, ultimately, had not a scrap of evidence proved against him,” AAP said in rare opinion piece.

The Haneef case has been seen as a vindication for the media, particularly The Australian newspaper and the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, which ignored flak from Howard and the police to point out flaws in the evidence. The media revealed the mistakes that led to the case collapsing on Friday -- involving false prosecution claims that Haneef's SIM was found in a burning car crashed into Glasgow Airport and that the doctor lived with some of the British bomb suspects before moving to Australia.

The Sydney Morning Herald said politicians were now trying to distance themselves from the investigation and softening their rhetoric, citing Andrews'. backdown on a July 17 pledge to deport Haneef even if he was found innocent.

“The police investigations so enthusiastically applauded for their haste and precision have been relegated from trophy to the sort of stench polite company disowns with a cold shoulder,” the newspaper said.

The Herald said the case also raised concerns about the potential for authorities to abuse counter-terrorism laws that have been steadily tightened since 9/11 but faced their first real test during the Haneef investigation.

“Rather than assuage an Australia edgy at the possibilities of terrorism ... (it) has laid bare all those politicians' assurances that the price of compromised legal principle was insignificant and that the innocent need not fear,” it said.