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Indian doc accused of link to terrorists | |||
| Published on July 14th, 2007 In Uncategorized | Views 168 | ||||
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Australian federal police on Saturday charged an Indian doctor with providing “reckless" support to a terrorist organization by giving his mobile phone SIM card to two of the suspects accused in the failed British bomb attacks. Muhammad Haneef, 27, is the second person to be charged over the botched attacks on London and Glasgow June 29 and 30. The other is Bilal Abdullah, who is being held in London on charges of conspiring to set off explosions. British police tracked a SIM card in the possession of one of the men accused in the failed Britain bomb attacks to Haneef, and alerted their Australian counterparts. At a bail hearing before the Brisbane Magistrates Court, authorities claimed that Haneef gave his SIM card to suspects Sabeel and Kafeel Ahmed when he left Britain in July 2006. Haneef is a distant cousin of the Ahmed brothers, with whom he reportedly shared a house in Liverpool for up to two years before moving to Australia. Federal Police Chief Mick Keelty said Haneef had been “reckless about some of the support he provided to that group, in particular the provision of his SIM card for the use of the group." “The specific allegation involves recklessness rather than intention," Keelty told reporters in the capital, Canberra. Two cars packed with gas cylinders and nails were discovered June 29 in the busy heart of London"s West End — one outside a crowded nightclub, the other near Trafalgar Square. The next day, a Jeep Cherokee smashed in flames into the security barriers at Glasgow airport. Suspect Kafeel Ahmed is hospitalized in critical condition in Scotland with severe burns from the attack on the airport. It was not immediately clear whether the SIM card was used in the foiled attacks. Official documents cited by The Australian newspaper on Friday said Haneef gave the SIM card to Ahmed before he moved to Australia so that his cousin could take advantage of free minutes left on his mobile phone plan. Police opposed bail before the Brisbane Magistrates Court on Saturday, but Magistrate Jacqui Payne adjourned her decision, leaving Haneef in custody until Monday because of the complexity and the large amount of paperwork involved in the case. If convicted, Haneef faces up to 15 years in prison. The police chief said Haneef would be prosecuted in Australia unless British police “have any evidence in the U.K. that would sustain an extradition application." A suspect can only be extradited to another country if that country has enough evidence to charge the person with an offense. In Britain, the office of the prime minister, the Home Office, the Foreign Office and London"s Metropolitan Police all declined to comment on the charges when reached early Saturday. Australian police arrested Haneef, who moved to Australia from Britain last year, as he tried to leave the eastern city of Brisbane on a one-way ticket to India on July 2. Haneef says he was rushing home to see his wife and newborn daughter, born June 26. Police have said they do not believe Haneef"s explanation. Police began interrogating Haneef on Friday afternoon after withdrawing a court application to extend his detention without charge beyond Friday. Under Australia"s counterterror laws, police can only hold a suspect without charge for extended time periods with a court order. Haneef was charged early Saturday after being questioned in hour-long blocks through Friday afternoon and early Saturday morning, his lawyer Peter Russo told reporters in Brisbane. Russo said his client was extremely upset by the charge. |
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