Flashback: 10 years on from the Doctor Haneef saga and the Gold Coast man wrongly accused

A WRONGLY accused Gold Coast doctor, an ageing, under-pressure government looking for an easy national security win to wedge the opposition and a terror attack. This is Dr Haneef’s story.

The famous lone photo of Doctor Muhamed Haneef which was the only image of the accused man available in the early days of the saga.

IT was a Gold Coast saga that got the world’s attention.

But it began on the other side of the globe with a terror attack, before growing to become the legal case that gripped a nation.

The story of Dr Muhamed Haneef was one of the biggest moments of 2007 and 10 years on remains a controversial episode.

How was it that a doctor working at the Gold Coast Hospital in Southport could be linked to an attack in Glasgow?

Glasgow Airport terror attack, 2007

Half a world away from the Gold Coast, a terror plot ended on June 30, 2007 when a Jeep Cherokee rammed into Glasgow Airport packed with gas and petrol, bursting into flames and setting the building on fire.

Police arrested Iraqi-born doctor Bilal Abdulla while Kafeel Ahmed had burns to 90 per cent of his body.

Dr Haneef in custody.

Meanwhile back on the Gold Coast, Dr Haneef, Ahmed’s cousin, rushed to Brisbane after receiving word his wife had given birth to his first child, a daughter, six days earlier.

The Federal Police arrested him on July 2 at the airport, with AFP commissioner Mick Keelty declaring: “We are alleging that Dr Haneef was connected to a terrorist group”.

His unit at 45 Pohlman St, Southport was raided, with reports a SIM card the local doctor had previously owned was linked to the attack.

Dr Haneef’s unit complex on Pohlman St, Southport the day after his arrest.

Multiple claims were made that he was linked to banned terror groups or that he was involved in plans to blow up Gold Coast high rises.

British investigators arrived to determine if he was in any way linked with the attack.

While being held without charge for days, Dr Haneef was treated as a terror suspect and kept isolated for 23 hours a day.

Haneef's lawyer Peter Russo speaking to supporters during the case.

He was eventually charged with terror offences but was given bail by magistrate Jacqui Payne.

However, the hand of the Federal Government was then felt.

Throughout the case the doctor was represented by lawyer Peter Russo and QC Stephen Keim.

The British anti-terror police officer who arrived in Australia to question Dr Haneef.

The Howard Government, severely behind the Kevin Rudd-led Labor in the polls, intervened in the case when Immigration Minister Kevin Andrews moved to cancel Dr Haneef’s visa on “character grounds”, preventing him from leaving custody.

The intervention was widely seen as being a political move by the Coalition to look tough on terror and wedge the opposition.

Kevin Andrews.

As the Commonwealth’s case against Dr Haneef collapsed, all charges were dropped by the Director of Public Prosecutions, with admissions there was “no reasonable prospect of a conviction” as well as mistakes in previous court appearances.

Dr Haneef was deported and left the country at the end of July 2007. He only returned in 2010 at the end of the Clarke Inquiry once his name had been cleared.

He received a big cash settlement from the Commonwealth.

Dr Haneef after he received compensation from the Government for being wrongfully accused.

The incident proved devastating to the credibility of the Howard Government which continued its slide in the polls, ending with its stunning defeat at the November 2007 election.

Kevin Rudd went on to become Prime Minister while Kevin Andrews remains a backbencher in parliament today.

Mr Russo continued to practice law for eight years before he was elected to state parliament in 2015

Dr Haneef still lives overseas.

John Clarke QC delivers the 'Report of the Inquiry into the Case of Dr. Muhamed Haneef' to Federal Attorney-General Robert McClelland.