[Reader-list] The Detention of Dr. Haneef in Australia

Fri Jul 20 09:15:27 IST 2007

While it is heartening to see the support of the
liberals in Australia for Haneef, the silence of the
Indian community in Australia (or even in India) also
doesn't surprize us. When Haneef's wife said the other
day that if Australian govt doesn't treat her husband
fairly, all the Indians will soon turn against
Australia - I was quite amused, since one knows that
hardly any Indian would like to do that. How can we
support someone who we haven't stopped suspecting
ourselves! The Indian students community in Australia
was recently in the news for taking an initiative of
guarding their neighbourhood against the attakers in
Sydney, but would they come on the streets to support
this Indian in trouble - no chance. In fact, the
Hindu-Muslim divide and seclusion among the NRI
community is probably wider than in India.

It is quite courageous for Manmohan Singh to have come
out publicly in support of Dr.Haneef, although one can
predict that his political opponents would use this as
an excuse to call him a supporter of the terrorism. 
One also wonders whether the PM should make such
remarks about one Indian stuck abroad, while a large
numbers of innocent citizens in India itself are
subject to a much worse detention and torture by the
Indian police in the name of terrorism.

Yousuf

--- Shuddhabrata Sengupta <shuddha at sarai.net> wrote:

> Dear All, (apologies for cross posting on Reader
> List and Commons Law)
> 
> Everyone on this list must be familiar with the news
> of the detention of 
> a doctor from Bangalore Dr. Haneef, in Australia in
> connection with the 
> attacks in Glasgow earlier this month.
> 
> Echo of 13 December
> In what seems to be spiralling into a strange echo
> of the 13 December 
> case, a man is being charged of terrorism in a
> country continents away, 
> because he happened to share a house and was related
> to one of the other 
> accused, and because of a lent SIM card. But the
> global 'war against 
> terror' requires fresh victories, and the Australian
> government is as 
> eager as any other to provide them, so it has found
> and picked Dr. Haneef.
> 
> While the Australian government, particularly under
> John Howard's 
> stewardship has displayed a degree of paranoia and
> prejudice, it is 
> heartening to note that a lot of ordinary people in
> Australia have come 
> out in support of the detained doctor. With people
> demonstrating on 
> streets, carrying placards that state that they too
> 'had lent someone a 
> SIM card'.
> 
> See - http://newsbreak.com.au/topic/Peter-Russo
> For a good compilation of articles from Australian
> sources about the 
> unfolding events of the case.
> 
> 'Every Drop of Blood is Human
> While the Australian state agencies, and several
> 'anonymous' sources 
> have sought to plant unsusbstantiated stories that
> insinuate that Dr. 
> Haneef was in fact involved in the plot. His legal
> team, led by 
> barristers Stephen Keim and  Peter Russo have also
> taken the entire case 
> into the public domain by releasing transcripts of
> his interrogation by 
> the police in which he (Dr. Haneef) while denying
> any involvement in any 
> form of terrorism says that he believes  "every drop
> of blood is human. 
> And I feel for every human being."
> 
> See -
>
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2007/07/18/1981921.htm
> and - 
>
http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/slow-burn-that-led-team-to-make-transcript-public/2007/07/18/1184559867716.html
> for details of the 'leaked transcript'
> 
> Reportage in Indian Press
> There has been some reportage of these issues in the
> Indian press. And I 
> am posting below a report that the Indian Express
> carried yesterday 
> about this - which is identical to one found on the
> - 
>
http://www.worldnewsaustralia.com.au/region.php?id=138540&region=7
> - webpage
> 
>
http://www.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=89721
>
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1070717/asp/nation/story_8068606.asp
> 	
> 'Australian people's support moved Haneef'
> Indian Express, Thursday, 17 July
> 
> Agencies
> Posted online: Thursday, July 19, 2007 at 1330 hours
> IST
> Updated: Thursday, July 19, 2007 at 1335 hours IST
> 
> Melbourne, July 19: Indian doctor Mohammed Haneef,
> charged with 
> supporting a terrorist organisation, broke down in
> jail after coming to 
> know of the widespread support he was getting from
> common people in 
> Australia, his lawyer said.
> 
> The 27-year old doctor from Bangalore was surprised
> and deeply touched 
> when told fellow lawyers as well as ordinary people
> were rallying behind 
> him and broke down, his lawyer Peter Russo told
> protestors outside the 
> Department of Immigration.
> 
> "Some of what's occurring today may come as a little
> bit of a shock to 
> him," Russo said adding "... he was moved to tears
> when I told him about 
> it (the support) because I think for him he hasn't
> understood the impact 
> that it's had on the rest of the community and I
> don't think he regards 
> himself as being such an important person," The
> Australian quoted him as 
> saying.
> 
> He said he expected Haneef would be amazed at his
> high-profile coverage 
> after having access to newspapers and television
> news reports for the 
> first time last night since his arrest at Brisbane
> Airport on July two.
> 
> "I'm pretty sure he will be stunned and he's going
> to have a million 
> questions for me," he said.
> 
> He was moved to the Wolston correctional centre on
> Wednesday after 
> failing to post a USD 10,000 surety, which would
> allow him to be 
> transferred to the Villawood Immigration Detention
> Centre in Sydney.
> 
> He is charged with supporting a terrorist
> organisation after giving a 
> mobile phone SIM card to a relative later accused of
> being involved in 
> plotting car bomb attacks in the UK.
> 
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