Australia charges UK bomb suspect
Authorities accuse Indian doctor of providing support “to a terrorist organisation”.
Published On 14 Jul 2007
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: News Agencies