Australian Links to London Bombing

[Tibrogargan]

Focus on bomb plot transfers

Article from: The Sunday Mail….Paula Doneman….July 08, 2007 12:00am

AUSTRALIAN authorities are investigating whether Gold Coast doctor Mohamed Haneef is part of a national sleeper cell of foreign doctors established here to fund overseas terrorist activities including the botched bomb attacks in the United Kingdom.
Federal and Queensland police are currently tracking overseas and local transactions from the bank accounts of Indian-born Dr Haneef who was the eighth suspect arrested over the attacks in London and Glasgow late last month, law enforcement sources said.
Each overseas transaction is believed to be below $10,000 which would avoid any scrutiny from AUSTRAC – a Federal Government regulator of transactions of $10,000 or more.
If the funds can be directly linked to terrorist activity, UK authorities could extradite Dr Haneef, 27, who remains in custody at the Brisbane police watchhouse.
It comes as the Queensland police bomb squad was used yesterday to open a locker at the Gold Coast Hospital where Dr Haneef has been working as a junior registrar since September last year.
A staff room at the hospital was sealed off as bomb squad officers opened the locker and swept it for any explosive devices.
It is understood the bomb squad was used as part of "standard safety procedures" followed in major crime investigations.
A key found in Dr Haneef's belongings triggered the search – however the locker did not belong to him.
The Sunday Mail can also reveal that police are examining signature stamps found in computer software on Dr Haneef's laptop which was seized during raids at his Gold Coast unit last Tuesday.
Police suspect the stamps, believed to be of Indian origin, may be from an overseas university.
Law enforcement sources said the discovery of the stamps has sparked concerns that they could be used to falsify documents.
It is understood an AFP officer will travel to India to trace the origin of the stamps.
The joint investigation between Queensland police and the Australian Federal Police will also look at whether Dr Haneef had used false identities to conceal any activity.
Dr Haneef was arrested on Monday as he tried to board the 11.45pm Singapore Airlines flight to Bangalore, India, with a one-way ticket.
Police believe Dr Haneef booked his flight to India after a tip-off that authorities were closing in on him following the terror attacks in the UK.
One suspect arrested in Britain had used Dr Haneef's mobile-phone SIM card and internet access since he came to the Gold Coast late last year.
Investigators are currently examining Dr Haneef's mobile phone records, emails and computer files.
On Thursday night a Brisbane Magistrate gave the AFP investigators authorisation under the counter-terrorism laws to hold Dr Haneef until tomorrow.
Dr Haneef's every association and movement since his arrival in Australia last year will come under scrutiny as police seek to determine whether a terror cell had taken hold here.
With no scenario ruled out, flight schools will be contacted to see if Dr Haneef was taking flying lessons and Gold Coast internet cafes will be checked.
Up to 50 specialist investigators from Queensland police's State Crime Operations Command and forensic units are working on the investigation with the Australian Federal Police.
The FBI yesterday confirmed a report Dr Haneef had sought to work at a US hospital last year prior to coming to Australia.
Haneef and Jordanian neurologist Mohammed Jamil Asha, contacted a Philadelphia-based organisation that certifies foreign-trained doctors to work in the US.
However, neither doctor had ever visited the US.
Dr Asha, 26, and his wife, Marwa, 27, a medical technician, were arrested by British authorities on a highway near their Manchester home last weekend, hours after a car bomb attempt at the Glasgow airport.

[mrs. red]

Wow, now more than ever i hope that the thinking people get it... the terrorists will not be deterred by "loving and understanding" them.  This article just points out how far flung the plot are ...

thanks Tib for bringing that in here!

[Tibrogargan]

Haneef charged over terror plot

Article from: The Sunday Mail (Qld)....Paula Doneman...July 14, 2007 08:10am

BREAKING NEWS: GOLD Coast doctor Mohamed Haneef has been charged with providing support to a terrorist organisation, the Australian Federal Police said in a statement today.

Dr Haneef, 27, an Indian national who was living and working at Southport on Queensland's Gold Coast, was charged today over his involvement with the alleged terrorists behind the failed UK car-bomb attacks in London and at Glasgow Airport on June 29 and 30.

Terrorist support

"He has been charged with providing support to a terrorist organisation contrary to Section 102.7(2) of the Criminal Code Act 1995,'' the Australian Federal Police statement said.

The maximum penalty for this offence under Australian law  is 15 years jail.

Sky News is reporting that the basis of the charge is Dr Haneef providing a mobile phone SIM card to a terrorist organisation.

Dr Haneef is already in custody and is expected to appear in the Brisbane Magistrates Court this morning.

Glasgow Jeep attack

The Gold Coast Hospital doctor is related to two men detained in the UK over the plot, Sabeel and Kafeel Ahmed, who allegedly drove a Jeep Cherokee into Glasgow airport.

Police today had 12 hours to question Dr Haneef before they had to either release him or charge him.

He has been held in custody for 12 days, under new Australian anti-terrorism laws. He was arrested at Brisbane airport on July 2 with a one-way ticket to India.

Dr Haneef told authorities he was on his way to Bangalore to visit his wife, who had just given birth.

Questioned in Brisbane

Police yesterday withdrew a request for an extension of time to question Dr Haneef, prompting wide speculation he would be released without charge today.

Dr Haneef's lawyer Peter Russo told the ABC he had spent all night at federal police headquarters in Brisbane where his client was questioned.

He said Dr Haneef had been transferred to the Brisbane watchhouse this morning.

His client is very upset by the news and will apply for bail, Mr Russo said.

Suspects still held

Dr Haneef is the second person to be charged in over the failed UK attacks. The other is Bilal Abdullah, who is accused of conspiring to set off explosions in Britain.

Dr Haneef, who came to Australia from Britain last year to work in a hospital on the Gold Coast, is a distant cousin of Kafeel and Sabeel Ahmed, two of the suspects being held in Britain.

The three reportedly shared a house in the British city of Liverpool for up to two years before Haneef moved to Australia, and remained in contact by phone and online messaging after that.

Police have also said they suggest a possible link between Haneef and Abdullah.

[Tibrogargan]

Haneef focus switches to photos

Article from: The Sunday Mail (Qld)
Paula Doneman
July 22, 2007 12:00am

POLICE are investigating whether detained doctor Mohamed Haneef was part of a planned terrorist attack on a landmark building at the Gold Coast.

Australian Federal Police are examining images of the building and its foundations found among documents and photographs seized in a police raid on the doctor's Southport unit three weeks ago.

The AFP inquiry is looking at documents referring to destroying structures discovered in the raid, law enforcement sources said.

The investigation also is examining information seized in the raid which indicated the Gold Coast doctor planned to leave Australia the day before or after September 11 – the anniversary of the terrorist attacks on New York.

It is understood in his second interview with the AFP last Saturday, Haneef was questioned about photographs of him and his family taken in Queensland and overseas.

Haneef, a registrar at the Gold Coast Hospital since September last year, explained that the images were only tourist shots. Investigators consider some of the photos seized are not ordinary holiday photos.

The AFP investigation is also looking at information that Haneef was one of a group of doctors who had been familiarising themselves with the operation of planes at a Queensland premises.

Haneef, 27, was last week charged with recklessly supporting terrorist activity by providing a mobile phone SIM card to his second cousins, Sabeel and Kafeel Ahmed, both of whom are being held in Britain over the failed terrorist attacks.

Haneef's solicitor Peter Russo said he knew nothing about the investigations into the documents and photographs relating to the Gold Coast building or destroying structures.

"He wasn't questioned about the majority of these matters," Mr Russo said.

"A couple of other questions were asked . . . but not in such a fashion that we could tell what they were talking about.

"Obviously if you're Muslim and you come from India, don't dare take any photos of any structures . . . or that will be interpreted by the Queensland police force of having a sinister intent."

The AFP has been criticised for its handling of the investigation after it was revealed that Haneef's SIM card was not found in the burnt-out Jeep at Glasgow airport after the botched terror attack on June 30, as a Brisbane court was told a week ago.

Instead, the SIM card was discovered eight hours later in Liverpool with Sabeel Ahmed, who is facing the minor charge of withholding information.

Law enforcement sources said AFP agents have downloaded information from four computers in the library of the Gold Coast Hospital where Dr Haneef has worked as a junior registrar since September last year.

The investigators are trolling through 31,000 electronic pages, most of it in Hindi.

A senior source confirmed yesterday that emails between Haneef and the Ahmed brothers in Britain are now seen as possible evidence.

An AFP spokeswoman said Commissioner Mick Keelty would not confirm or deny the allegations as the matter is before the court.

Hours after being granted conditional bail by a Brisbane magistrate on Monday, the Federal Government cancelled Haneef's visa on character grounds.

A hearing will be held in the Federal Court next month to determine whether he will remain in custody while he awaits trial.

Haneef is currently being held at Brisbane's Wolston Correctional Centre.

[/b]

[Tibrogargan]

Haneef desperate to return home

Article from: The Courier-Mail

Lachlan Heywood, Jasmin Lill and Tristan Swanwick

July 28, 2007 03:05pm

A HOMESICK Dr Mohamed Haneef will leave Australia as soon as he gets the go-ahead from the Immigration Department, his lawyer says.

Dr Haneef remains in legal limbo as he awaits a decision by Immigration Minister Kevin Andrews over whether to reinstate his work visa.

The Gold Coast-based doctor was yesterday released from a Brisbane jail after a charge against him of providing support to a terrorist organisation was dropped.

He remains under residential detention at a secret location in Brisbane while he awaits Mr Andrews' decision.

'Thank you, thank you'

His lawyer, Peter Russo, told reporters in Brisbane today the Indian doctor was relieved to be out of jail but was homesick and pining for his family in Bangalore.

Mr Russo said Dr Haneef was keen to go home as soon as possible - possibly as early as tonight - even if his work visa is reinstated.

Mr Russo said Dr Haneef's first words to him after his release last night were "thank you, thank you, thank you Peter".

He was then interviewed for two hours by immigration authorities before being taken to a safe house where he dined on takeaway Indian food bought by his relative Imran Siddiqui.

Mr Russo said he had received several offers from the media interested in securing an exclusive interview with the doctor, however no decision had yet been made.

Dr Haneef wore a smile of relief as he was released from  Wolston Correctional Centre  last night following the dramatic collapse of the prosecution case, but there were only grimaces in Canberra.

No apologies

Scrambling to avoid the political fallout, Immigration Minister Kevin Andrews, Federal Police Commissioner Mick Keelty and Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions Damian Bugg all refused to accept responsibility for the botched case.

They also refused to apologise.

Dr Haneef was facing charges of recklessly providing resources to a terrorist organisation, and has spent almost three weeks in custody after being detained at Brisbane airport in connection with the failed British bombings.

Mr Andrews said he would seek further advice from the Commonwealth Solicitor-General about whether he would now need to reverse his decision to cancel Dr Haneef's visa.

Dr Haneef's wife Firdous Arshiya said she was exhilarated the charges were dropped and the "truth has come out".

Dr Haneef's lawyer, Peter Russo, said he had "no idea" where his client would be taken by Immigration officials.

"It's not a place of his own choice, he's in detention," Mr Russo said. "He doesn't have a choice – he hasn't had a choice in this thing since day one."

Dr Haneef's cousin Imran Siddiqui was pleased the charges were dropped but knew the fight was not over.

"It's kind of a celebration but at the same time I think we have the patience to wait and see what is going to happen," he said.

[Tibrogargan]

Haneef 'told to flee' in webchat

Article from: The Courier-Mail..Clinton Porteous, Lachlan Heywood and Steven Wardill

August 01, 2007 12:00am

AN internet chat room discussion was the key evidence the Howard Government used to damn the freed terror suspect Mohamed Haneef and end his chances of returning to Australia.
The conversation, excerpts of which were released last night by Immigration Minister Kevin Andrews, includes a passage in which Dr Haneef's brother in India instructed the Gold Coast Hospital registrar to use his newborn daughter as an excuse to flee Australia.

It was just two days after the failed bombing in Glasgow and only hours before he was nabbed at Brisbane International Airport trying to catch a flight home with a one-way ticket.

Dr Haneef's brother Shuaib told him: "Tell them that you have to, as you have a daughter born. Do not tell them anything else".

The previously undisclosed email exchange also showed Dr Haneef was told "nothing had been found out about you" but was warned his cousin Kafeel Ahmed, under arrest in Britain over the botched bombing, was "in some sort of project".

The new evidence also revealed that Australian Federal Police investigators "suspected" that Dr Haneef was aware of the conspiracy to commit terrorist acts in both Glasgow and London.

The material appears to back up Mr Andrews' controversial decision to cancel Dr Haneef's work visa. The decision has been widely criticised.

But the evidence also raises questions about why the AFP did not release the potentially damning material in court proceedings, given "classified material" is still being withheld.

Commonwealth Solicitor-General David Bennett said Mr Andrews had the discretion to order the cancellation of Dr Haneef's work visa.

The terrorism charges against Dr Haneef, after almost four weeks in detention, were dropped last Friday when the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions admitted to errors and the AFP were criticised for their handling of the investigation.

Dr Haneef has said he never discussed the terrorism plots with his cousins, Kafeel and Sabeel Ahmed, who are under arrest in Britain.

Kafeel was allegedly driving the Jeep in the terrorist attack on Scotland's Glasgow airport on June 30. Sabeel has been charged with withholding information relating to a terrorist act.

Dr Haneef told a press conference in Bangalore after his triumphant return home that he was a victim of "an Australian conspiracy".

Queensland Premier Peter Beattie said he remained "deeply suspicious" about Mr Andrews' claims.

"The truth is he is thrashing around to save his political hide," Mr Beattie said.

He questioned why the new claims were not aired in the Magistrate's Court when Dr Haneef was bailed and why Mr Andrews then allowed the alleged terrorist conspirator to leave the country.

Shadow attorney-general Joe Ludwig said the developments highlighted the need for an independent judicial inquiry.

 

[Tibrogargan]

Haneef wants to be an Aussie

Article from: The Courier-Mail...Margaret Wenham and AAP..August 06, 2007 12:00am

THE Indian doctor at the centre of the Federal Government's recent terror charge fiasco has told The Courier-Mail he will be proven innocent despite a smear campaign against him.

"I just regard it as a testing time from my Lord," the quietly spoken former Gold Coast Hospital registrar, Mohamed Haneef, said.

Dr Haneef also said he would like to ask Prime Minister John Howard for "honorary citizenship of Australia".

Why?  "Because I am a good doctor," he said.

But today Prime Minister John Howard said honorary citizenship would not a possibility for Dr Haneef.

Mr Howard told Southern Cross Broadcasting: "There is no case for that to occur and ... I'm not sure that we have honorary Australians anyway, but he wouldn't be the sort of person you'd make an honorary Australian.

"But it wouldn't be appropriate.''

Damaging allegations

Speaking to The Courier-Mail from his home in India, Dr Haneef said there was no truth to damaging allegations leaked to various media outlets by unnamed police sources.

Dr Haneef was arrested at Brisbane International Airport on July 2 and detained for 12 days without charge following a botched terror attack on Glasgow airport.

The attack was allegedly carried out by Dr Haneef's British-based cousins Sabeel and Kafeel Ahmed.

Immigration Minister Kevin Andrews cancelled the doctor's working visa on character grounds just hours after a Brisbane magistrate granted him bail.

Dr Haneef was charged with supporting a terrorist organisation after his mobile phone SIM card was reportedly found in the possession of his cousin but the charge was dropped for lack of evidence.

He was eventually released on July 27.

Dr Haneef denied accusations that he had "regular internet chat-room contact with a large, radical Islamic group" that may be the subject of covert MI5 surveillance.

"No I have not been involved with any internet chatroom at all and no I am not (involved with any group)," he said.

"I am not interested in that type of thing. I have not been involved in any such kind of things at all."

But like so many of the damaging allegations that have in the past week been leaked to the Australian media on an almost daily basis, Dr Haneef said he had not been given a chance by authorities to answer that claim.

"The police haven't talked to me about this allegation," Dr Haneef said.

The Indian doctor left Australia less than 48 hours after he was released from prison into community-based immigration detention.

Case collapse

The Immigration Minister has refused to reinstate his visa even after the prosecution case against the young Muslim registrar collapsed.

Dr Haneef said he continued to be philosophical about his ordeal.

The next chapter will be played out on Wednesday in the Federal Court in Brisbane, where Dr Haneef's lawyers will appeal against the revoking of his Australian work visa by Mr Andrews.

"It might be a testing time . . . but I do have faith in the justice system of my Lord – he will prove my innocence," Dr Haneef said.

He said he was staying with family in Bangalore.

"My mum and we, we are all here in the same place, at my in-laws place," he said.

Haneef's joy

Genuine joy crept into his voice when he talked about his baby daughter, Haniya Kulthum, to whom he said he was flying to see when arrested.

"She's got my hands and feet," he said with a chuckle.

When he first saw her, she was "sleeping in tranquility".

"It was an emotional moment for me.I was very happy at that time – I haven't had such happiness in my life.

"She had jaundice. She was premature when she was born.

"There were some discrepancies in my wife's dates, so she was a bit premature and also developed jaundice later on. She's better now. She's doing well."

Dr Haneef said he was not thinking yet about returning to work, or where.

"When things are settled, we will get back to our lives . . . At the moment I haven't thought about these things, we'll see how it goes," he said. He said liked working at the Gold Coast Hospital and "I did like living in Australia. It was very wonderful".

But after Firdous returned to India for the birth of their child, "I was just bored – I used to ask for any extra shifts . . . and I was doing my studies in preparation for my Australian exams", he said. "Apart from that I just had a new car and was just (driving) around. I'd go to my prayers and sometimes I'd go to the beach to relax."

When a telephone call came from his cousin Sabeel Ahmed's mother, telling him of his cousin's alleged involvement in the British bomb plots, he said he was aghast.

"I was really shocked," said Dr Haneef, who was held in Australia on charges of supporting a terrorist organisation after his mobile phone SIM card was reportedly found in his cousin's possession. "I didn't really know what was going on at that time . . . it was only late in the evening when I was leaving my home, when I was chatting with my brother, he told me about (a few) of the things going on.

"When I later came to know about how Sabeel had been arrested – I didn't know anything about Kafeel at all – when I got a call from his mum about the SIM card issue . . . I tried to call the number in the UK which she gave to me of (British investigator) Mr Tony Webster."

At that point, Dr Haneef said, he was not worried he would be investigated or somehow implicated in the bomb plots; but he was worried that his SIM card was somehow mixed up in it all.

"I thought this was just about calling him up and clearing up whatever he (wanted to) ask relating to this," Dr Haneef said. "I didn't realise this was – that it had such a big impact.

"I didn't have any (strong concerns), but I got worried about the SIM card – that was the main thing, that Sabeel had this SIM card."

Lawyer flies home

Dr Haneef's Australian lawyer, Peter Russo, flew back into Brisbane last night.

Mr Russo said that his client was interested in seeking compensation, although Dr Haneef is yet to formally direct his lawyer to do so.

"He is the sole bread winner for his family and extended family, his mother."

"He has a huge extended family on both sides and the compensation issue is something that needs to be addressed," he said.