Australia court hears Haneef work visa revocation appeal News
Australia court hears Haneef work visa revocation appeal

[JURIST] Dr. Mohammad Haneef [JURIST news archive], who was detained by Australian authorities last month in connection with the attempted UK car bomb terror attacks [JURIST report], on Wednesday appealed the decision of Australian Immigration and Citizenship Minister Kevin Andrews to revoke Haneef's work visa [JURIST report] and place Haneef under "immigration detention" shortly after he was granted bail by a magistrate. Andrews has said his decision to revoke Haneef's visa on "character test" grounds under the Migration Act [text] was based on Haneef's "associations with people who have been involved in criminal conduct" [ABC report]. Haneef's lawyers argued Wednesday before the Federal Court of Australia that Andrews has misapplied the standard for "association," which should not include mere familial relationships. Government lawyers countered that Andrews revoked Haneef's visa because Haneef left a subscriber identity module [Wikipedia backgrounder] with his second cousin, one of the alleged bombers, when Haneef left the UK over a year ago. Government lawyers also said that Haneef borrowed money from one of the terrorist suspects.

Haneef, who has not been implicated by UK authorities in the attacks, was detained as a terror suspect for 25 days for allegedly providing reckless material support to the suspected terrorists. The terror charge against him was dropped [JURIST reports] after the Australian director of public prosecutions reviewed the case and concluded that there was insufficient evidence [press release]. Haneef has been allowed to leave the country, but he is still considered a suspect [JURIST report] by the Australian Federal Police. He has said that he wants to return to work at the Gold Coast Hospital in Queensland, Australia. AP has more. AAP has additional coverage.