Enemies doctoring truth

By Piers Akerman

July 31, 2007 12:00am

THE civil liberties' lobby and its fellow travellers are trying to portray Dr Mohamed Haneef as the new David Hicks, conveniently glossing over the fact Hicks was a self-confessed al-Qaeda trainee whose own father believed he was a terrorist.

That was before the hand-wringers airbrushed all mention of their martyr's terrorist training and his love letters to global Islam out of the picture because they were inconvenient to the real cause: Fighting the Howard Government.

Hyperbolic claims are being made in a frenzied blame game in the pre-election atmosphere but they need to be examined through the prism of reality.

It is therefore notable that Bangalore police will meet Dr Haneef in the next few days to talk to him about any knowledge he may have of a December 2005 terrorist attack on the Indian Institute of Science in India's IT capital.

According to the Hindustan Times, a scientist died in the attack, which police believe was the work of the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) - one of the groups Hicks trained with before going to Afhganistan for al-Qaeda finishing school.

Not that Dr Haneef is suspected of any involvement, but the Bangalore police are still exploring every lead in their fight against terror - as authorities are doing the world over - and with good reason.

A week ago Italian police raided what they called a "bomb school" at a mosque in Perugia in central Italy, arresting three and presenting evidence of training in explosives and poisons and instructions on flying a Boeing 747.

Cultural Institute of the Italian Islamic Community director Sheik Abdul Adid Palazzi told the BBC he was not surprised to hear of the arrests because "like in the rest of Western Europe, most mosques are controlled by pro-terror organisations - 90 per cent of mosques. And I think the percentage is more or less the same in Italy, Britain, France and Germany."

While Australia's handling of the Haneef case will no doubt be used by enemies of the nation to encourage the erroneous perception Australia is a racist redoubt that goes after people like Dr Haneef just because he's Muslim, it's worth recalling that prominent Indian journalist Barkha Dutt used the issue to explore inadequacies in India's treatment of terrorist suspects.

"In a case eerily similar to Haneef's, didn't our investigating agencies almost put an innocent man on death row?" Dutt wrote in the Hindustan Times.

"The Pota court trying the case in its early stages convicted a Delhi-based college teacher along with the other accused and sentenced him to death.

"The entire case against Professor S.A.R. Geelani was based on the fact he had some telephonic contact with the prime accused in the days before the attack. It was left to the Supreme Court to throw out the case against the professor and acquit him of all charges.

"Even today, intelligence officials and investigating officers insist their case against him was foolproof and they had been let down by the courts. I don't remember any public outrage defining the national response to the Professor Geelani case."

As it happens, a gaggle of the hate-Australia brigade met at a rally in the Sydney suburb of Bankstown organised by the global Islamist movement Hizb ut-Tahrir to express outrage at the lack of support shown by the Muslim community for Sydney men arrested in the nation's biggest counter-terrorism sweep, Operation Pendennis.

Former Liberal prime minister Malcolm Fraser, who had promised them a written statement to be read out to the crowd but withdrew his message, came in for some flack but local lawyer Adam Houda sent a message in which he made the preposterous claim Muslims had become targets of the anti-terror laws and scapegoats for political ends.

Hizb ut-Tahrir is banned in several European nations but not the UK or Australia, though an investigation into the organisation is under way.

There is no doubt aspects of the Haneef matter ill serve the nation's interests but it must also be noted Dr Haneef's father-in-law Ashafaq Ahmed Ahmed has expressed remorse for booking a one-way ticket to India for Dr Haneef, saying that factor added to the Australian police's suspicions.

Dr Haneef appears to have emerged unscathed, albeit richer after selling an interview.

How much more compensation he should receive is a moot point but the Australian public deserves an explanation from Queensland's Premier Peter Beattie and Police Commissioner Bob Atkinson of the leaks that seem to have come from the state police.

Similarly, Federal Police Commissioner Mick Keelty and Federal DPP Damian Bugg appear at odds about evidence (and non-evidence) that was to support the case against Dr Haneef and question remain about the material Immigration Minister Kevin Andrews was shown before he cancelled Dr Haneef's visa.

That there was no terrorist threat proven does not mean we will be any safer but, in the interests of transparency, to restore faith in our system and to ensure better co-ordination, an explanation of the flawed process should be provided and revision of the system conducted.