AFP Chief having a sook over the Dr Haneef Case

AFP Chief having a sook over the Dr Haneef Case.

The head of the Australian Federal Police Commissioner Mick Keelty has come out to blast the media for its reporting during the Dr Haneef case. He has called for a media blackout in all terrorist cases until all legal avenues have been exhausted. Such a blackout would have prevented the reporting of the Dr Haneef case in the media.

The Dr Haneef case for anyone who has been living on Mars for the last year was the first time that the new anti-terror laws were fully tested in the Australian legal system. Under the laws Dr Haneef was arrested and questioned without charges being laid. His case collapsed in the courts as the facts indicated that his relationship to terrorism was a coincidental family connection and a SIM card linked to one of the bombers. The courts found that Dr Haneef had no case to answer but that did not stop the then Minister for Immigration Kevin Andrew from withdrawing the Doctors’ visa on bad character grounds. The ‘bad character grounds’ were determined by ministerial discretion and was appealed in the courts. In the meantime Dr Haneef was deported from Australia back to India and would have a permanent record as a terrorist security risk in every nation on Earth. In the last few weeks the final appeal to restore Dr Haneef’s visa won in the courts and he now free to return to Australia and continue his career as a medical doctor. However Dr Haneef has said that he will wait for the results of government enquiry into the handling of his case.


The motivation for Mick Keelty to blast the media may be related to calls for him to be sacked for his bungling of the evidence; the willingness to pursue charges against an innocent man; his cosy relationship with the Howard Government; his unwillingness to disclose the true facts of the case. The media rightfully described the AFP as a bunch of Keystone Cops and it was an opinion reflected by the Premier of Queensland at that time. Dr Haneef was not involved in terrorism; the SIM card that he gave to his cousin was not used in terrorist activities; Dr Haneef tried to call Scotland Yard 4 times before his arrest. On the AFP and Federal government side there were leaks coming thick and fast to paint Dr Haneef as some kind super villain. Yet it was not until the transcript of Dr Haneef’s interview was released to the media by his lawyers that the true picture of what was going on became clear.


Dr Haneef was being used as the test case for the controversial new anti-terror laws and a successful conviction under the new legislation would vindicate them publically. Instead the Haneef case highlighted how such laws can be abused for political gain and how Minister Kevin Andrews tried to manipulate this case for political gain in an election year. In short Dr Haneef was being used as a sacrifice to justify laws that curtail civil liberties and to drum up support for a Howard government election win. The fact that Dr Haneef was innocent was not important.

Perhaps Commissioner Keelty feels hard done by in the media or perhaps he finds public scrutiny and accountability an annoyance. Yet he is not the one who was arrested, interrogated, accused of terrorism and deported unjustly. Perhaps if Dr Haneef was some fool who took his punishment lying down then Keelty would be satisfied. Instead the media for once did their job correctly and exposed how an innocent man was being crucified for the pathetic careers of a few politicians and their cronies. This is something that will never have come to light if Mick Keelty gets his way with media blackouts.