INDIAN DOCTOR LINKED TO BOMB PLOT RETURNS HOME
0 Comments | BERNAMA; Malaysian National News Agency, Jul 30, 2007
from BERNAMA The Malaysian National News Agency NEW DELHI, July 30 (Bernama) — An Indian doctor who was wrongly accused of supporting terrorism in the botched Glasgow bombing, returned to Bangalore last night amid tight security
Dr Mohamed Haneef, 27, who was accompanied by his Australian lawyer Peter Russo and cousin Imran Siddiqui, arrived at the Bangalore airport at 9.30pm (local time) after flying from Brisbane via Bangkok
It was an emotional scene at his residence as his wife Firdous Arshiya, one-month old baby daughter and family members welcomed him home
“I spent 27 days going through the trauma of being detained by Australian police,” was Dr Haneef’s first comment to the media
In a surprise turn of events, the Australian court dropped all terrorism-related charges against him after prosecutors abandoned the cases on Friday
He was detained for almost four weeks in a Brisbane jail following the terror attack on Glasgow airport on June 30
Dr Haneef’s cousin Dr Kafeel Ahmed and Iraqi Dr Bilal Abdullah were believed to have crashed the vehicle into the entrance of the airport
Prosecutors had claimed that Dr Haneef’s mobile phone SIM card had been found in the burning vehicle
But it later emerged the card had actually been found in a flat in Liverpool, some 300km from Glasgow, where his cousin lived
After a lengthy interrogation, Australian police failed to link him to the plot
Although the junior doctor at a Gold Coast hospital in Queensland was freed, the Australian government refused to issue him a work visa
P. Vijian Copyright 2007 Bernama