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Australia charges UK bomb suspect
Authorities accuse Indian doctor of providing support "to a terrorist organisation".
Last Modified: 14 Jul 2007 05:38 GMT
Haneef could face a maximum penaltyof 15 years
in prison if convicted [GALLO/GETTY]

Australian federal police have charged a 27-year-old Indian doctor over his alleged involvement with last month's attempted bombings in Britain.
 
"He has been charged with providing support to a terrorist organisation," federal police said in a statement released on Saturday.
Muhammad Haneef was charged over his alleged involvement in the failed bomb attacks in London and Glasgow on June 29 and 30.
 
Earlier, Haneef looked set to be released after police withdrew a request to extend his detention, although they continued to question him.
Haneef, who has already been held in custody for over a week, is one of six doctors who have been questioned in Australia over the attempted bombings, which police say are suspected of having links to al-Qaeda.
 
The others have been released.
 
Arrested
 
Australian police arrested Haneef on July 2, after his mobile telephone's sim card was allegedly found in the possession of one of the men accused in the London and Glasgow attacks.
 
Mick Keelty, an Australian federal police commissioner said: "The specific allegation [against Haneef] involves recklessness rather than intention."
 
Keelty said that Haneef had been "reckless" in supporting the alleged terror cell through "the provision of his sim card for the use of the group".
 
He is expected to appear before the Brisbane Magistrates Court in southeastern Queensland state later on Saturday.
 
If convicted he could face a maximum penalty of 15 years in prison.

 

Housemates

 

Haneef came to Australia from Britain last year to work in a hospital on the Gold Coast northeast of Sydney.

 

While in the UK, he reportedly shared a house in the city of Liverpool with two men detained in the UK, also a cousin, for up to two years, before moving to Australia where he remained in contact with them by phone and online messaging.

 

Haneef was arrested in the eastern city of Brisbane on July 2 while trying to leave the country on a one-way ticket to India.

 

He says he was rushing home to see his wife and newborn daughter, born on June 26.
Source:
Agencies
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