Maurice Blackburn

ASIO’s early clearance of Dr Haneef – Pressure mounts on AFP

Lawyers for Dr Mohamed Haneef have reacted quickly to yesterday evenings release of ASIO's censored submission to the Clarke Inquiry.

The ASIO submission states that Dr Haneef was not a security threat, and that this was concluded by 3 July, and communicated to all of government through the National Counter Terrorism Committee, which met on 3 July.

'If ASIO felt and told everybody, including the AFP, that Dr Haneef was not a security threat, why was Dr Haneef ever charged?" Rod Hodgson of Maurice Blackburn stated.

'By 11 July, which was before Dr Haneef was charged, and before his visa was cancelled, ASIO had repeated in writing that Dr Haneef was in no way a threat or legitimately a suspect. We now know that the Queensland Police Service gave exactly the same message to the AFP: Dr Haneef is not a threat."

'There are serious questions as to why the AFP acted against Queensland Police Service and ASIO advice. One thing the Australian public needs to know is who within the AFP directed the charging of Dr Haneef in the face of advice from Australia's peak intelligence agency, ASIO, and why', Mr Hodgson added.

He also continued to criticise Mr Clarke's lack of powers.

"Why won't the government create the conditions under which the Terms of Reference can best be addressed, and the AFP made accountable?

As we have seen in the last couple of days, Mr Clarke, without Royal Commission powers, has been placed in a very difficult position. There is much material already in the public domain. The AFP should be forced to make public submissions on the material presently in the public domain. The interviews with the key players in these events should also be published, so the public have confidence in the process and the outcomes of the Clarke Inquiry. The Attorney General and Mr Rudd should show some courage and give Mr Clarke the Royal Commission powers to do the job they said would be done before the election - a full and open judicial inquiry."

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