Several senior Government sources have told The Sunday Age they were furious at the Australian Federal Police for their handling of the case and wanted to shut the issue down before it did more damage to the Government’s credibility.
“Our best option is to cancel the Criminal Justice Certificate, which was issued to keep Haneef here in Australia after we cancelled his visa, and that is my understanding of what our intentions are,” one Government source said.
The Age
Getting Haneef out of the country will get him out of the news, leaving the front pages free for the next crisis John Howard decides to confect in his increasingly desperate attempts to turn the polls, but the Government needs a pretext to give his deportation some respectability. Today’s Hun has done the honours:
POLICE are investigating whether Mohamed Haneef was part of a conspiracy to launch a terror attack in Australia.
Australian Federal Police are examining images of a Gold Coast building and its foundations found in documents and photographs seized in a raid on Dr Haneef’s Southport unit three weeks ago.
Predictably, the AFP are refusing to confirm or deny the story.
Haneef’s lawyer Peter Russo says the allegations are new to him and he would not know where one would get photographs of a building’s foundations.
Russo is angry over these new leaks.
And of course, the story has already been picked up by the Indian newspapers.
These would be the same investigators that told us his sim card was in the jeep I assume, give us a break.
Makes me wonder if the report on printgate by the Federal Police will be released under the cover of this schmozzle. Keen to see how much time and effort has gone into gathering the facts about their political masters.
AND he was “thinking of leaving OZ on or around Sept 11, the anniversary…”.
At least the Keystone Kops only ever trashed themselves. Ratty’s Praetorian Guard stomps on anyone & anything that they’re pointed at, without regard for precedent, provenance, proof, probity, posterity, presumption of decency.
I noticed Malloy wore sneakers
…for sneaking.
And the Federal Cabinet not representative of the general population because it is deliberately stacked with high profile lawyers should know better. Howard, Costello, Ruddock, etc. are far more sinister than Union Bosses will ever be.
One would have thought they might have learned a lesson from the failure of Bond Corp where that board too consisted of lawyers and accountants.
There is also the story that he was one of a group of doctors learning to fly a plane.
Attack of the Flying Doctors.
Is nothing sacred to these jihadist bastards?
He was wearing shoes too.
My bad … Miranda Devine was warning us only last week not to make fun of The Terrorist Threat on Our Doorstep.
The leaks or porkies know no bounds it seems. Pretty soon I guess all Muslims answering the calls of the lower colon will be suspect, screaming headlines thus:
and
but truth be told
I heard that the Federal Police have received a tip from the FBI that his dad is suspected in the US of being the shooter on the grassy knoll in Dallas ‘63, as well as the doctor who prescribed Marilyn’s sleeping pills for her.
Are these guys desperate or what?
I’m starting to wonder if there’s an ALP mole in the AFP who is responsible for these leaks. They seem to have no more credibility than the stuff given to Heffernan on Kirby.
The prosecution seems to have included deliberate porkies. It is hard to imagine it this far wrong merely from stuffups.
The latest leak would be outrageous if anyone thought they were serious. But like the earlier stuff it seems aimed at making both the AFP and the Govt look like idiots.
The Govt advisers leaking to the Age may have the right idea. This one is lost as propaganda. The longer it gos on, the worse it will be for the Govt. Best to drop the charges and whisk him out of the country pronto. Maybe offer to pay his costs on condition of silence.
I hope his dad didn’t smuggle Harold Holt to China.
What would be the point in that for the government if it’s as cynical as you think? I bet their popularity increases with each day of lefty whining.
Speaking of which, I’m getting really worried about Carmen Lawrence.
This is just all more evidence supporting the immediate torture of Haneef. That Haneef took photographs surely points to the fact he is a terrorist. Can anyone say for sure that there is not a time bomb ticking away somewhere in Australia? I know I can’t.
The pleas of Peter Faris, Julie Clarke, and Mirko Bagaric cannot now be ignored.
http://fr.wsws.org/articles/2005/may2005/tort-m19.shtml
“The prosecution seems to have included deliberate porkies”.
It certainly has. Such as the police telling the magistrate at his bail hearing that Haneef had given no explanation for buying a one way ticket. As the transcript of his interrogation shows, Haneef gave a very detailed explanation.
The Federal Police have come out of this stinking to high heaven. Incompetent at best, attempting to pervert the cause of justice at worst. And now they are leaking stories about Haneef plotting to blow up a Gold Coast landmark.
The Tower of Terror at Deamworld, perhaps? I can’t wait for the next AFP leak telling us that a sleeper cell of Muslim dolphins at Sea World was in on the plot.
Reminds me of the proceeds of an art heist on the Gold Coast a few years ago when police arrived at a motel and found a room full of stolen artworks. The good stuff they thought was rubbish and the rubbish looked to them to be the Good artwork.
Brendon,
As Haneef hasn’t been tortured, and torture is not on the agenda, I suggest that any speculation on who might like to see Haneef tortured for the greater good is seriously off-topic. No more hyperbole please. The case already stinks to high heaven.
The AFP seems to have forgotten the fact that ROIs are tape-recorded these days and that you just can’t verbal people any more, like you could in the good old days.
One of the things I’m finding a bit scary in this conversation is the conflation of what is in fact a real if general threat (ask any family member of anyone killed, wounded or traumatised in Bali, much less New York) with the specific case of Haneef and the hilarious and sinister behaviour of the Australian Feds, both government and police.
Much as I hate to agree with Miranda Devine, it is possible to give these bodies the satiric treatment they so richly deserve without also actually denying that the world currently has a bit of a terrorism problem and that we as decadent westerners and CoW members (however unwilling) are not immune from it.
But the Haneef case as it unfolds keeps reminding me of Egon Kisch, anti-Nazi campagner and friend of Kafka. From here:
‘Known as “the rampaging reporter” Kisch came to Australia in 1934 at the invitation of the World Committee Against War and Fascism. Refused permission to land at Fremantle, he bypassed the ban by leaping ashore at Melbourne, a well-publicised jump that left him on crutches, with a leg in plaster, and hobbled by various Kafkaesque legal proceedings that took him all the way to the High Court. When Justice Evatt threw out the plea against Kisch of ‘subversive activities’, the visitor was subjected to a dictation test of the kind used to enforce the White Australia Policy—in this case a test in Scottish Gaelic as a way around the unwanted visitor’s formidable skills as a linguist fluent in 11 languages. Having failed this rather bizarre test, Kisch was then declared a prohibited immigrant.
The ban proved difficult to enforce, for the High Court went on to rule that Scottish Gaelic wasn’t a European language, as required by the Immigration Act. When the Sydney Morning Herald published the opinions of some indignant Scottish patriots, disparaging the High Court’s ruling, the newspaper was promptly prosecuted for contempt—another set of legal proceedings to fan the controversy. … The imbroglio was brought to an end eventually when Attorney-General Menzies returned the visitor’s passport, covered his legal costs, and negotiated a return trip to Marseilles, glad to be rid of him.’
If they deport him they’ll still be up to their eyeballs in trouble. Does anyone think that the 7:30 report or 60 minutes might try and track him down in India and interview him? 60 minutes will pay too, which he will surely appreciate. This means that after the whole thing is done and dusted, there will be mamdouh habib-style interviews on sunday night tv. And subsequent further questions about who knew what, etc. Even if Rudd leaves it well alone and lets the interview speak for itself, it will put that final dimension on the whole filthy episode – personalisation of the hapless victim.
With this one, it looks like little Johnny is undermining one of his last 2 strong claims to people’s respect – “strong on terror.” Pigs arse he is!
I don’t think it’s really an issue either way at the moment. I think the ‘ordinary person’ has become pretty sceptical about the government crying wolf over national security – eg. Iraq, David Hicks. If the Haneef thing keeps dragging on and turns out to be absolutely nothing, I think it will undermine the government’s credibility even further.
My concern is that all the bungles of the AFP support the government and all the bungles of the government support the AFP. Random noise would not produce such a result.
This probably isn’t factual.
And may I commend Craig McC’s oft-stated concern for Carmen Lawrence.
State and territory police commissioners are calling on the Federal Government to introduce strict security checks for people buying mobile phones.
The idea was put forward by commissioners at a federal parliamentary joint committee on the Australian Crime Commission last month.
Under the plan, people wanting to buy a mobile phone and SIM card would have to present 100 points of identification, similar to opening a bank account.
As if THAT is going to stop Terrorists getting SIM CArds – be prepared for an increase in Black Market SIM Cards and identity theft.
Seems like there is now some doubt about where the latest stories come from – Not us according to the AFP
What if the prosecution case against Haneef is not proven? What if he then decides to press his right to have his visa reinstated and keep his job at the Gold Coast Hospital? I think that if his innocence is upheld than he should have every right to try to re-establish his life from where it was interrupted.
The AMA is worried about the effect on Foreign Doctors.
FOREIGN doctors could avoid Australia because of the way terror suspect Mohamed Haneef’s case has been handled, the Australian Medical Association says.
AMA president Rosanna Capolingua said Australians must separate the allegations against the Gold Coast doctor from his profession.
“There seems to be a thought that doctors from overseas won’t want to come to Australia looking at the Haneef issue because they don’t want to be a part of this,” Dr Capolingua said.
“We have to remember that this is not about doctors.
“This is about a particular situation around an individual who happens to be a doctor.
“It would be very sad to see doctors dissuaded from coming here, because this is not about doctors.”
Australia’s medical sector would struggle without the input of foreign doctors, Dr Capolingua said.
Keelty has indicated that the reports about Haneef plotting to blow up somethingorother in Surfers’ Paradise are incorrect.
http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/haneef-reports-wrong-keelty/2007/07/22/1185042932452.html
So I wonder who the anonymous tipster was that had News Ltd in thrall?
Er, Gold Coast. One of those Queenslandy places with too many ugly buildings right next to the water.
Probably just plucked out of thin air like most of the political stories they run.
Gummo re Brendon’s LINK – is it legit d’ya reckon? I can imagine Buggerit saying that sort of thing but I’ve never heard of Clarke.
Don’t imagine that it hasn’t crossed the minds (sic!) of some of the knuckle draggers, in government and our thin blue lines.
Don’t forget tha, when NSW Special branch was ‘disbanded’ after the Hilton ‘Ananda Marg bombing’ its files,personnel and ethos (sorry, sic! again) went to the AFP.
Amphibious, some years ago I was at a wedding and found myself sitting next to a Federal police officer. He was proudly proclaiming that while the average IQ of a NSW state police officer was around 93, the average for a Federal cop was 97.
“Eeek,” I quietly thought to myself.
Where is Haneef’s employer in all this?
If one of my 457’s was banged up by the coppers I’d be down at the nick thumping the desk daily, & then around to DIAC to thump their desk even harder about why the heck are they keeping my staff away from their workplace?
Lomandra, that was one of the revelations of the FitzGerald Enquiry, that Qld police had to score below a certain level on an intelligence test before they would be accepted into the academy.
“So I wonder who the anonymous tipster was that had News Ltd in thrall?”
Could be a rogue federal cop.
Could be someone from the government.
I wonder if Haneef can sue New Limited for defamation? They’ve said he was planning a major terrorist attack on the Gold Coast, which is quite a slur on his character, as these things go – an allegation the federal police commissioner has now said is a load of old cobblers.
Ah, the bush lawyers are going to say, Haneef has no reputation in Australia to protect. True enough, but the News Ltd story was published all over the world, on the internet, including in places where he has some reputation left, like his home country.
Spiros, all part of the spiking of the Newspoll for Tuesday morning most likely.
According to The Age:
It was possibly just an unfortunate mix-up by reporters at the Australian.
These things sometimes happen to the most careful professionals, you know.
Care to tell us how many you have? And why, given that the 457s are supposed to be given to ’skilled’ workers’, how pub employees qualify?
Still not a word from Murdoch press about the AFP statement. Just this from a lawyer earlier in the day.
That’s one of the more interesting questions I’ve heard asked, Steve At The Pub. You’re right—most other big-business/public sector employers would be cutting sick at the treatment one of their high-value employees was getting. It’s not as if you can go down to the nearest Job Network office and pick yourself up a doctor. (On second reading of the comment: I don’t know, maybe you can).
Dr. Haneef might have been better off as an employee of a private medical centre rather than as a resident at a State hospital, but then again, if (say) you as an employer went around thumping desks at police headquarters, you’d also be trumpeting your associations with a suspected terrorist to a police force anxious to prove itself.
The whole episode is a tribute to the wholesome influence of the Press Council. Never have the credibility and professionalism of the journalistic profession stood so high.
The Australian Federal Police. Our version of the Keystone Cops. They leak like a rusty bucket too.
Cheers…
amphibious,
Brendon’s link is just an old retelling of the kerfuffle over Mirko’s first foray into the torture “debate” and accurate as far as I can see. And still off-topic.
That’s easy, wpd: highly skilled pub workers from the Middle East. Guaranteed by certain beliefs not to drink your profits on the sly.
But I suppose OTOH Steve could manage a Singaporean registered Public Utilities Board facility (PUB) here, and his 457 applications are quite legit.
Barista’s view
PC: but how big a problem?
Statistically, you’re far, far, more likely to be murdered by your partner than a terrorist.
This whole thing just sucks.
Keystone cops! Poor old Keelty had to come out to try and break the cycle.
Some of us more than others, I should think… Sure, I know, or killed by a bee sting — though I do also think that statistics tell only a small part of any story. Like, if one were murdered by one’s partner then at least one’s own personal choices and one’s own personal behaviour would have played a part.
But in any case it’s a separate issue from the point I was making, which was that farcical behaviour from the Feds and the actual presence or absence of a terrorist threat are two, erm, separate issues.
It seems like nearly everyone agrees that the Government has ridden roughshod over the legal system to achieve their grubby political goals. And maybe they have succeeded with the readers of daily tabloids.
Anyone reading the front page of this Sunday’s age would smell a giant rat however. It looks like the lid is well and truly of the game of political manipulation of “national security” for electoral gain.
I think it is time that Howard, Ruddock and Andrews were detained by the Federal Police and questioned for an “extended” period about their support for and use of WDD. Weapons of Democratic Destruction.
Pavlov’s cat
The World Committee Against War and Fascism was a Comintern Front and any rational person who took an interest in these matters in 1934 would have known that its purpose was to prop up the evil Stalin regime. Egon Kisch was exactly what the federal government (Menzies was AG) said he was – a phnoney who was here on the false pretence that he was a peace activist. He was a Comintern stooge.
Any parallel to Haneff? We’ll have to wait and see.
But that’s what I always smell when I read the front page of The Age!
And I use a deodorant!
My suspicion is that Inspecteur Clouseau is here on secondment to the AFP.
As to Immigration Dept., aren’t they the people who gave us Rau, Solon, etc?
Add zeal to serve The Rodent and all is explained.
Rafiki, yes, Kisch was indeed a communist (though if you think he was anybody’s ’stooge’ then you clearly don’t know much about him; he was first and foremost a journalist and a flamboyantly theatrical one at that) and I was not advocating that, nor was I advocating for Kisch or indeed for Haneef.
You have completely missed my point, which was that the government’s response to him throughout was farcical, and that there is a direct parallel with the current government’s response to Haneef (NB spelling). It isn’t necessary to take sides in either of these stories in order to see that there has been rank dishonesty and ludicrous bungling in high places.
Bill Cushing is on the money, assisted by Mick Strummer. Is it Inspector Clouseau heading up the Keystone Kops AFP investigation? Something doesn’t smell right. It is possible, but improbable that the AFP can so bungle a case which became so high profile.
Bill, to be fair to the Immigration Dept, it is the Minister himself who has revoked Haneef’s visa. And Kevin Andrews is a lot of things, amongst them tenacious to the point of fanatacism. He is not known for backing off, or for caring whose toes he treads on, (or how hard he treads on them).
Fiasco Da G: You are being hyperbolic (in tongue in cheek manner) to suggest that employing a 457′er who gets himself banged up for terrorism is likely to get me in the pokey alongside Haneef.
The relationship between an employer and a 457′er is a legitimate one and is able to withstand scrutiny, it also carries some responsibilities for the employer. (DIMIA have been excruciatingly pedantic on this point about the employer’s responsibilities to the 457′er, which is why I would be thumping their desk about why the heck they are keeping him from work!)
WPD: If your enquiry about my 457 experiences is genuine (though irrelevant to this thread) I’ll happily answer them. I hesistate, as in past threads it has been my experience that my dispassionate recounting of the practical application of employment red tape is so far outside the horizons of most LP’ers that they are unable to conceptualise my statements.
Now the police are writing diary entries in Haneef’s Diary.. What a disgrace.
A NEW bungle has emerged in the investigation of Mohamed Haneef as Australian Federal Police chief Mick Keelty yesterday dimissed reports that the Indian doctor was suspected of being involved in a plot to attack the Gold Coast’s tallest building.
The Australian can reveal that investigating AFP officers wrote the names of overseas terror suspects in Dr Haneef’s personal diary, only to later grill him during an interrogation over whether he had written the potentially incriminating notes.
The mistake is revealed in the record of the first interview between Dr Haneef and two officers from the AFP’s counter-terrorism force, Queensland Detective Sergeant Adam Simms and federal agent Neil Thompson.
Towards the end of the interview, which occurred soon after Dr Haneef was arrested at Brisbane International Airport on July 2 for allegedly providing support to a terrorist organisation, Sergeant Simms states: “In your diary, you had handwritten notes. Is this your writing?”
Dr Haneef replies: “No. This is not my writing. Definitely not.”
After suspending the interview, the officers returned to the question of the handwritten notes, including the name and contact details of suicide bomber Kafeel Ahmed, a second-cousin of Dr Haneef.
Sergeant Simms states: “Now, as I was alluding to, or as I was going to show you, before … police who have been looking through your diary have found some handwritten notes in the back of your diary. And one of these handwritten notes is details for Kafeel Ahmed. Telephone numbers and looks like an address. A couple of addresses. Now, that writing there, is that your writing?”
When Dr Haneef again denies it is his writing, Sergeant Simms leaves the room. He returns and says: “Thought that might have been the case. In fact, it’s not. This is what’s been written by police. So it’s not your handwriting at all.”
I wonder if the term ‘Perverting the course of Justice has crossed the mind of Howard, Ruddoch or Andrews.
View from the dark side.
Brisbane Times
The Orstrahyun
Blogocracy
Now that the diary has been shown to be tampered with, is there any admissable evidence against Haneef? His lawyers should move forthwith to have the charges dropped – who is going to argue aginst this? – so he can get out of the country as fast as he can.
What a debacle.
Ruddoch spins undermining of law
ATTORNEY-General Philip Ruddock has accused lawyers for Mohamed Haneef of campaigning to undermine anti-terrorism laws.
Mr Ruddock also denied the case against Haneef, the Gold Coast doctor charged with providing material support to a terrorist organisation, is now “a mess�, saying some civil libertarians were prepared to say anything to achieve their ends.
The case against the Indian-born doctor has been plagued by a series of leaks of documents.
“These matters should not be dealt with in the way in which they have, either by leak or by counter-leak or whatever,� Mr Ruddock said today.
Asked on Southern Cross radio whether the case was a mess, he replied: “No, what I think has happened is that people who have views about the nature of the law are determined to try and bring it into disrepute.
“That’s what I think is happening.â€?
Queensland Liberal view
Quite a twist here.
Lawyer – Serious questions
Wow. Writing in a suspect’s diary. Didn’t they have a spare notepad or something? I’m really starting to worry about mine and Australia’s safety if these are the geniuses charged with protecting us and investigating those who seek to harm us.
Parallels in India.
The National’s Mark Vaile has his two cents worth.
Its official. Australia is now a police state under the direct command of Government ministers. Of course Ruddock will blame “civil libertarians” for this mess. He chooses to play the person, not the ball, and not accept any responsibility for the fiasco that he has directly contributed to.
Federal Labor is still going with the “me too” small target strategy with Beattie the allocated Labor attack dog. If Federal Labor won’t speak out about the reprehensible Government actions and abuse of the legal system (and human rights), presumably they think it is OK and would do the same?
I say bring back Howard’s abandoned 1996 Ministerial Code of Conduct code:
Downer – She’s a Witch!
I think you need a trip to Zimbabwe, Cuba, China or somewhere PeterC, to give you a bit of perspective on what is a “police state”.
The Haneef case, if all they Keystone Kops anecdotes turn out to be exactly as reported, will result in very public embarrassment for the govt. Haneef will be freed (cancellation of visa notwithstanding) and associates of his will have nothing to fear.
It is not as if he will disappear forever, or perhaps fall from the 40th floor of the AFP tower, his co-workers & supervisor hauled in to be given the rubber hose & naked light bulb treatment. Followed by the govt stating that they will treat equally as robustly any others who dare to plot against it.
Mr Ruddock probably has very good grounds for asserting this plot to undermine Australia’s Anti-terror laws.
Didn’t Dr Haneef outline this plot in his own diary?
It makes for much better reading than Harry Potter.
Comments at Barista tell us that Doneman resigned earlier this year. How did she come to make a comeback in time for yesterday’s mock story for the Murdoch Press?
Law Council want bridging visa issued.
A PEAK legal body has called on Immigration Minister Kevin Andrews to grant Mohamed Haneef a temporary visa so he can remain in the community pending trial on a terrorism related charge.
Law Council of Australia president Tim Bugg urged Mr Andrews to issue a bridging visa to prevent the Gold Coast doctor being detained for more than a year pending his trial.
“In reality, he is not in detention because of the charges against him or because he has been deemed a threat to the community,” he said.
“He is in detention because he no longer has a valid visa.”
steve at the pub, this may be an astonishing revelation to you, but police states don’t appear, fully formed, overnight. Sometimes they actually get started when liberal democracies get complacent or scared of the boogieman.
Nick, I have heard it all before, when Keating was Prime Minister. People everywhere were convinced that a police state was being snuk in by stealth, that Australia was being sold out by a traitorous PM who was actively working against Australia, etc etc etc. Big Yawn.
The exception proves the rule. So Haneef gets run in & charged, it turns out the case is worthy of Inspector Clouseau. The AFP will be a laughing stock.
I can promise you, in police states, or anything heading toward a police state, hoods don’t stand on the street, their chins almost on a copper’s shoulder, & bark abuse at him.
& that is a nightly event in most places in Australia.
Gummo Trotsky says:
No doubt the treatment of Haneef falls short of ideal institutional process. But it may effect some ideological progres. Same deal for the assylum seeker problem.
In both cases the end may justify the means: namely the good end of state national security may justify the bad means of govt political iniquity.
Howard’s politicised argy-bargy had gotten results which is why it is popular. We no longer have the problem of people smugglers violating our sovereignty and drowning boat loads of unauthorised aliens. And we have managed to dodge the bullet of home-grown terrorists that has hit countries in the USE.
Hopefully the mistreatment of Haneef will have a silver lining. Sending a message, as Tony Soprano would put it. Ethnic groups will be less likely to act as sea for potential terrorist fish.
A bit hard on the poor old messenger, though.
Britain’s recent history of corruption of law enforcement and the justice system in relation to prosecution of persons falsely accused of being IRA operatives proves that operatives in even the most sophisticated system of law enforcement can succumb to temptations to take short cuts and to proceed on the basis of prejudice rather than evidence.
While only relatively small numbers of persons were directly harmed by these corrupt police practices, still they served to poison communal relations.
The police became effective recruiting sergeants for extremism.
Australians must be vigilant that the AFP does not play the same role, because the consequences are likely to be dire in the matter of Islamism, both at home and abroad.
There is absolutely no room for complacency.
steve at the pub on 23 July 2007 at 2:26 pm
Amen to that. Liberals in AUS dont know their own luck having a moderate conservative run the joint. And a touch-feely police force.
I lived and worked in NYC and TEX during the early-mid nineties, whilst those jurisdictions were under the mayoralty, governorship and presidency of liberals (Dinkins, Davis and Clinton).
This was in the US of A, font of civil liberties.
So you would expect, on ideological grounds, the place to have been a haven for those with flippant disregard for law-enforcers.
Not bloody likely.
This was also not long after the riots and during the height of the Crack Wars. US cities effectively became police states.
You didnt want to give the cops any lip then unless you wanted to spend a night cooling your heels with some very unpleasant cell partners. Everyone, gang-banger or gum-shoe, was on-guard and barely able to restrain themselves from scratching their itchy trigger-fingers.
Freedom comes when you trust your neighbour enough to not have to continually watch your back. If you dont trust him then you are quite happy to kick the distrust problem upstairs to the authorities. Or look for greener pastures.
Thats what the US citizenry has done, hence its massive urban incarcerations and ex-urban agglomerations.
In Australia there is still a substantial amount of civil trust. And most conflict is not taken “too far”. Punters dont play for keeps. So the voters do not authorise cops to monster the unruly as they do in the US.
People like Dafid Marr wonder at how AUstralia became such a dreadfully unfree place. They are still basking in the reflected glories of the seventies.
Alot of people have seen the future in the US or EU. And it wasnt pretty for liberty.
The Pythons must have had an opportunity to observe Strocchi in glorious 1970s.
Strocchi is the Prisoner to the life.
I’m so glad I don’t have to recruit overseas doctors to come and work here.
I’m afraid Jack’s caught a bad case of Howarditis, Katz. Not too many people listening to his ravings these days.
All these shenanigans appear to have done a power of no good to the Coalition’s election chances.
Latest odds from Centrebet are Labor $1.68, $Coalition $2.20.
This is the shortest Labor has been (too short IMO).
Translated into probabilities of winning the election, and adjusting for the bookies margin, it’s Labor 57%, Coalition 43%.
How unpleasant Jack? And in which of the States you travelled did you find your cell mates the most unpleasant?
Just askin’
The only problem for the Howard government in deporting Haneef is the media circus that will occure on his release.
Unlike Hicks there won’t be any gag orders.
IMHO the Libs are going to keep him locked up until at least the election, and they will duke it out.
Anyone see Howard and Downer go ape at Beattie for the terrible crime of suggesting the AFP have acted hopelessly in regards to Dr Haneef?
The AFP are the new untouchables. You can’t say anything bad about em. It’s the equivalent of criticising Stan Zemanek or Steve Irwin.
“POLICE are investigating whether Mohamed Haneef was part of a conspiracy to launch a terror attack in Australia.”
Even a year 9 media studies school kid would know to attribute this claim, but Hun journos Paula Doneman and lincoln Wright haven’t quite worked out simple reporting.
Message to all journos. You are going to get fed like chooks on this one. Attribute to protect yourself from embarrassment.
From the time Mr Haneef was arrested you knew he was in deep shit. There is absolutely no way he was going to be set free the day/week after, once the “evil terrorist” (suspect) label had been pinned on him. He could have been the most dastardly terrorist mastermind on the planet. Or not.
He is a brown complectioned bloke with a muslim name.
All this so called incompetence by the AFP and inferred political interference steers the debate so far away from obtaining an objective and unbiased outcome that his plight is impossible.
The “leaks” to the GG and subsequent publishing were not, in my opinion, a sudden flash of social conscience in their quest for truth. More likely a captive pamphlet’s attempt to further muddy the waters.
Obvious incompetence, deliberate misinterpretation and tampering with evidence (the diary) and red herrings like the Surfer’s high rise implosion scare are not the work of keystone cops.
We musn’t be so naive as to assume that the “plod” is as backward as the MSM readership. The AFP are willing political fall-guys – just like the armed services generally. Would they say to the Minister “Piss off Kevin, Phillip, John, we have our integrity to uphold”?
Deportation is now a metaphor for the too hard basket.
There is no way we will know if Haneef is guilty or innocent. Many people will say he is innocent and was framed for politically expedient reasons.
Others will say that because of his racial and religious descriptor he has to be guilty.
Most don’t have a clue and will forget in time anyway.
Mission Accomplished.
“In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king”
I still think that a lot of the Government angst was avoidable had they accepted the magistrate’s decision to grant bail and issued Haneef a Bridging visa as the Law Council suggested today. But an arrogant out of touch Government always knows better.
Newspoll’s 12 point gap at 56 to ALP versus 44 for coalition is a fitting result for a Government who has lost all sense of how to govern. If you can’t handle the heat, call the election and let’s be done with it. Things don’t look like improving for the Government any time soon and they are quickly running out of ideas that have any chance of succeeding.
The powers that be have obviously decided on “regime change”. Time to hand the baton to a popularly acceptable version of the same thing.
Pity about the Haneefs, Habibs and all the other not so familiar names who were once “new Australians” and are now pre-apocalyptic “suspects”.
Causes of the Howard Clique’s angst are deep-seated.
The Howard Clique would still have lost the forthcoming election even if they had behaved impeccably over the Haneef prosecution.
But, of course, it is now notorious that the Howard Clique have behaved anything but impeccably.
They returned to the tried-and-true ploys of Tampa and assiduously sought to mine the fear and prejudice of the electorate.
But this is 2007, not 2001. Since 2001 the voters have shied away from the shrill tones of government spin. Australians can be motivated by alarmism, but not forever.
Moreover, the unauthorised arrival of masses of dusky-complexioned folk sets off powerful conditioned cultural alarm bells associated with the White Australia Policy. An educated doctor employed in the public health sector is poor raw material for constructing a bogeyman.
The Howard Clique probably know this. But time is running short. The Howard Clique felt that they had little choice but to make do with Dr Haneef, Terrorist Mastermind.
Predictably, the results have been disastrous.
You have a point Steve. Though it should be remembered that the Magistrate in question has a.. er.. volatile record. If you are nicked for street violence, hope for magistrate Payne, u may well be found “no case to answer”, even if half of Brisbane saw you spitting on & punching someone.
The “Free Haneef” demonstration the following day was organised by the husband of magistrate Payne……… uh oh… ooops.
Forgot to add a link there did you SATP? I’d hate to think you were traducing somone without any proof fern boy.
And yeah yeah yeah Jack Strocchi, solipsism equals causation. Or whatever.
I, like pretty much just about everyone else around the blogosphere now, can no longer be arsed listening to much beyond the opening notes of your gallantly unflagging yet franatically and fanatically flailingly futile call to arms.
Predictably, the results have been disastrous.
We’ll leave traducing someone without a shred of evidence to you Nabakov.
Nobody finds it disconcerting that a Magistrate who is in almost every way a Qld version of NSW’s Magstrate Pat O’Shane declares that (right or wrong) an accused must be released, and her husband grabs a megaphone & holds public rallies declaring that the accused must be “freed”.
Why bother to have a legal system when a bunch of people want to just hit the streets & declare a suspect “innocent”?
Several doctors have been hauled in to do with this matter & later released. Haneef alone has not been released. Anybody ever stop to think there could be a reason for this? (In thinking circles being muslim & brown skinned is not automatic grounds for exoneration of a suspect)
Why is the federal ALP silent on the matter? Is it because they have been briefed on the matter, that they know there is something which requires investigation, and it possibly has nothing whatsoever to do with a phone card?
Ans: To cut down the level of fear and anxiety in the community
Ans. Yes
Ans. Ask them.
Ans. Probably not.
“Why is the federal ALP silent on the matter? Is it because they have been briefed on the matter, that they know there is something which requires investigation, and it possibly has nothing whatsoever to do with a phone card?”
Maybe. Or maybe they don’t want to branded as “soft on terrorism” a couple of months away from an election.
If there is really damning intelligence on Haneef that could not be put before the mgistrate for national security reasons — a mighty big if, but suppose it’s true — then Andrews should have just said that this was an extraordinary circumstance, and while the executive wouldn’t normally intervene to countermand a magistrate’s decision, it had to be done on this occasion.
Instead, he gave us the preposterous story about “character” and “parallel processes” and it was just a coincidence that his decision meant that Haneef would stay locked up. Nobody believes him, and rightly so. If the Govenrment has got themselves into a political mess on this — and it takes some doing for the Howard government to turn a story about Islamic terrorists into a political negative, but they seem to have managed it — they have no one but themselves to blame.
The government’s handling of this episode is reminiscent of the Keating Government’s handling of the Hindmarsh Bridge fiasco, in its dieing days. Robert Tickner, who was Labor’s version of Kevin Andrews, made a complete hash of it, allowing the damaging story to drag on and on. It was emblematic of a government in terminal decline, as is the Haneef debacle.
No wonder Labor is silent. It shuts up, and the government takes one self-inflicted hit after another.
I wouldn’t say that in Thailand if I were you. It could get you a good few years in gaol for lese-majeste.
And it wouldn’t go down too well in Cambodia, where the one-eyed man is Prime Minister, seemingly for life.
Looks like the heat and pressure is getting too much for the PM who has distanced himself from the Andrews visa decision.
Thanks for this reference Steve:
So Mr Howard has confidence in the force that allowed nine young Australians to fall into the hands of Indonesian machine-gunners.
And did AFP Chief Keelty ever withdraw his assertion that Australian involvement in the war on Iraq increased the likelihood of terrorist attacks on Australians? Mr Howard continues to deny this rather simple proposition.
“…..allowed nine young Australians to fall into the hands of Indonesian machine gunners”
Makes it sound like Whitlam & the Balibo Five.
Nine criminals, international drug smugglers arrested with illegal drugs strapped to their body in wholesale quantities, got arrested in Indonesia, where they will be punished for their crimes according to Indonesian law.”
Embarrasingly they share citizenship with me. May posterity forget they were my countrymen.
The job of the AFP is to prosecute crime, not provide an umbrella to protect criminals from the consequences of their actions.
Don’t want to receive the death penalty for smuggling drugs? Then don’t smuggle drugs. Not difficult.
Keelty’s assertation that involvement in the Iraq war has increased the terrorist risk to Australia?
A spark of independence which is not being attributed to Keelty over the Haneef affair. Perhaps his boys have got Haneef banged up on slightly stronger grounds than coz JoHo has said he wanted a brown skinned muslim scapegoat.
How about we give Keelty the benefit of the doubt at this stage, & only hang him as a Howard stooge if it is proven he is so?
Wrong question. Try “Why have a legal system when the decisions of a court can be overturned by the executive branch of the government?” That’s the first issue in this case.
Now add another question: “Why base criminal proceedings on the presumption of innocence, if that can be overturned by the executive branch of the government?” There’s another issue for ya.
Depends what sort of circles you’re thinking in. Generally speaking, thinking in circles is pretty unproductive. That said, in thinking circles, neither is being muslim and brown-skinned automatic grounds for conviction of a suspect.
One question – what happened to this Steve at the Pub. He was starting to sound reasonable. Maybe he was an impostor.
Vaguely reminds me of a certain Senator from New South Wales – Heffernan, I think his name was. A good friend of the Prime Minister apparently.
Gummo, The AFP is starting to get off the hook. Haneef has now said that it was he who wrote the names of terrorist suspects in his diary.
There is certain to be (there better be) a reason why when all the other doctors were let go, Haneef was kept in the pokey. This reason has probably been shared with the shadow ministers, but not with the public.
As for the “court” decision. That particular magistrate is hardly a .. er… fountain of wisdom. Granting bail to a suspect, over the objections of the police, when the magistrate has a record of Pat O’Shane style decisions, & THEN the magistrates husband trying to start street marches to circumvent the legal process…. whoooooa!
Muslim name & brown skin are not automatic grounds for conviction of a suspect. Who has said they are grounds for conviction? Give yourself a spanking Gummo.
If the peanut gallery will slow down a tad, the guilt or innocence of Haneef will be decided by a court.
Haneef’s visa is another matter. You will have to front Kevin Andrews for that. All best with that one, he is one hard nosed prawn that one.
Someone above compared him to Robert Tickner. Good grief, Tickner is just a dickhead. Kevin Andrews is a fanatic, in a different leage to a dupe like Tickner, who was too stupid to know better.
Andrews knows exactly what he is doing, and has serious form when it comes to riding roughshod over people & sensibilities. He couldn’t care less what wankers (ie, anyone who isn’t Kevin Andrews) may think, he will do what he pleases.
In this case, he has cancelled Haneef’s visa.
SATP will no doubt insist that the Prime Minister makes it clear that this is his attitude on an important issue of law and order.
Otherwise SATP coud legitimately be accused of putting robust words into the mouth of a lying wimp.
“PM sez “Stitch the bastards. Hang the electoral fallout!”
Then according to Andrews he will be deported anyway. That is the problem SATP, the interference by Andrews. Against the rule of law, separation of executive from judiciary and a presumption of guilt before the case is heard. Why couldn’t Andrews have shut his mouth and issued a bridging visa until the case is heard?
The other thing to remember is that the Peanut gallery won’t be shutting up or going anywhere until Anrews loses his seat or is thrown into opposition.
Don’t you think that you should follow your own advice and wait until the facts come out? This is just newspaper talk.
It is the AFP and Government ministers and Howard who have been feeding the peanuts. This is the basic problem with the Executive interfering with (and leaking information about) the legal process in train – and overriding it.
This is looking like the actions of a Police State to me. Haneef is still detained, and the case from the Governments very own lips is a dogs breakfast. No doubt they will just try and tough it out and keep ranting about “being tough on terror” – which appears to be the prime motive for their actions (al la Tampa).
I wonder if Ruddock has authorised “coercion” in Haneef’s interrogation – given that he says sleep deprivation is not torture etc?
SATP – I don’t think the AFP is starting to get off the hook at all. Their actions have quite clearly been compromised by politically motivated directions from the ministers (Executive) involved.
PeterC, aren’t the weathermen waiting for you to join them underground somewhre in california or something?
Brendon, good to see you on board the “let’s see what the evidence is” camp.
Er.. if all it takes to make the peanut gallery happy is to be rid of Kevin Andrews I’ll drive to wherever his seat is & make him an unrefusable offer.
But I suspect those who get all keyed up over him, that is those for whom political outcomes are more important than anything else (including good governance) will be miseryguts & grumblebums no matter what. They should loosen up a little sometime.
SATP ” The AFP is starting to get off the hook, Haneef has now said it was he who wrote the names of terrorist suspects in his diary”.
Ummm. If Haneef had altered his own handwriting and written those names, to him (Haneef) they are his relatives.
And err, the cops on the tape said that they had written the names in Haneef’s diary.
Now the case is to be reviewed.
No. I am not interested in them. You may be, but I’m not.
My main concerns are:
1. The AFP handling of the case – which the DPP is now personally reviewing – apparently due to the many serious inconsistencies that have arisen with the case.
2. Government ministers (Executive) interfering with the Judiciary – as per Andrew’s overriding of the magistrate’s decision to grant bail – using his discretionary powers under the immigration act which are unrelated to the supporting terrorism charge. And Ruddock beating up on the Judiciary for not “properly reflecting the intent of his anti-terrorism legislation”.
3. The general precedent for abrogating our human rights that affects us all (e.g. if we give our SIM card to someone etc) – where we could be detained for extended periods, verballed by Government ministers and have not right of reply, information about us leaked from Govt sources, and maybe even tortured (sorry, “coerced”) during interrogation.
The Murdoch Prress is now saying charges against Haneef will be dropped tomorrow or Monday.
Minor correction steve – Peter Faris is speculating that the DPP, after reviewing the case, will decide to drop charges. Plus:
ABC’s PM program says Andrews is also reviewing the basis for the visa withdrawal.
Andrews link
Which terrorist mastermind smeared egg all over the faces of these patriotic Australians?
We need stronger laws to prevent such outrages.
Or stronger outrages to prevent such laws!
Indefinite Detention.
The charges have been dropped.
This puts Andrews in an interesting position.
Andrew’s discretionary powers as Immigration minister mean that he doesn’t have to disclose his reasons for revoking Haneef’s visa as it “may compromise national security”. But tonight he was sticking to his script.
The AFP had their chance to make the case against him about national security before the courts and failed.
It is extremely dodgy for Andrews to proceed with his course of action, which is why he is seeking more legal advice to see if he can keep “bricking it in”, or kick Haneef out without disclosing any valid reason.
This is bad, unaccountable Government.