Date:24/07/2007 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2007/07/24/stories/2007072459271000.htm

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AFP claims to have more evidence

P. S. Suryanarayana

Denies trying to falsify Haneef’s diary

SINGAPORE: The Australian Federal Police (AFP) on Monday asserted that more evidence would be produced in court in the trial of Brisbane-based Indian doctor Mohammed Haneef on charges linking him to the recent “terror plots” in London and Glasgow. Dr. Haneef has denied any wrong-doing.

The AFP made known its intentions while refuting suggestions that it tried to falsify Dr. Haneef’s diary in a bid to implicate him in the “terror plots.”

Dr. Haneef, now in a solitary cell in Queensland, is awaiting a Federal Court hearing on his appeal against the cancellation of his work visa and a committal hearing on the terrorism-related charges against him. Both hearings are scheduled to take place in August.

An Australian media report, based on a reading of the leaked transcript of the AFP’s “interview” with Dr. Haneef, said the police tampered with his diary by writing in it the name and contact details of Kafeel Ahmed, an accused with critical burn injuries in the U.K. cases.

The report said the police questioned Dr. Haneef about the diary entries and he came out with a denial.

AFP Commissioner Mick Keelty, in a statement issued in Canberra, said the media report “is not correct.” He emphasised that “police at no time made any notations or additions to Dr. Haneef’s diary.”

Claiming that “it is not appropriate” to elaborate this denial, Mr. Keelty said any misinterpretation or analysis of the “interview details” taken out of context “has the potential to undermine the court process.”

This was true “in the absence of other material that will be placed before the court,” he said, hinting that the leaked transcript was not the only evidence in the prosecution’s case against Dr. Haneef. The AFP’s denial of falsifying his diary came amid mounting calls by lawyers and political leaders for a fair and just treatment of Dr. Haneef. On Sunday, Mr. Keelty described as “inaccurate” a media report that indicated that the AFP was studying the possibility of Dr. Haneef trying to plot a terror strike in Australia itself.

The additional evidence or “other material,” which AFP will tender in court, should, therefore, relate only to the charges in connection with the “terror plots” in the U.K.