Liberty for Haneef

MOHAMED Haneef has been freed from prison after the Howard Government revoked his detention order and commonwealth prosecutors abandoned their terror proceedings against him amid top-level admissions of serious mistakes.

MOHAMED Haneef has been freed from prison after the Howard Government revoked his detention order and commonwealth prosecutors abandoned their terror proceedings against him amid top-level admissions of serious mistakes.

But after more than three weeks in custody he is still not completely free, being in a state of "residential detention" that allows him to move freely in the community, providing he reports regularly to Immigration Department authorities.

Dr Haneef was released from Wacol Correctional Centre on Brisbane's southern outskirts just before 6pm yesterday, then taken to the Department of Immigration and Citizenship's Brisbane office until he was moved to an undisclosed unit.

But the fallout from the controversial case continues, with Immigration Minister Kevin Andrews and Australian Federal Police Commissioner Mick Keelty under pressure as they remained unapologetic about the performance of their agencies.

Mr Keelty and the AFP's top officers are believed to be privately angry with Mr Andrews over the case, believing Mr Andrews's decision last week to revoke Dr Haneef's visa complicated and inflamed the now-collapsed case.

Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions Damian Bugg QC admitted his agency had been at fault by putting two errors of fact before the court. But Mr Bugg said the AFP had provided his office with "incorrect material" on the address of Dr Haneef in Britain.

Queensland Premier Peter Beattie, who has been a strong critic of the way the case has unfolded, declared last night that the dropping of the charges was a victory for fairness.

Mr Beattie said Dr Haneef would be welcome to return to employment in Queensland provided Mr Andrews reissued his working visa.

"Our institutions did work," he told The Weekend Australian. "Although it did require some people to have some guts and to express a view. We have to protect ourselves against terrorism but we don't want to destroy our way of life."

Mr Beattie singled out Queensland barrister Stephen Keim, who leaked Dr Haneef's record of interview to The Australian to illustrate the flimsiness of the case against the doctor.

"I hope in the future that people in Australia remember this because it shows you that people have got to be able to get up and express a view without having their head shot off," Mr Beattie said. And he accused Mr Andrews of intervening for political reasons to underline the Howard Government's security credentials.

Mr Andrews said yesterday that Dr Haneef would be released from custody pending further legal advice, from commonwealth Solicitor-General David Bennett QC, on his original decision to cancel the Indian doctor's visa.

Mr Andrews cancelled the Gold Coast registrar's working visa on July 16, just hours after a Brisbane magistrate had granted him bail on a charge of giving support to a terrorist organisation.

Dr Haneef, who had been working as a junior doctor at the Gold Coast Hospital, was arrested at Brisbane airport on July 2, in the wake of attempted terrorist attacks in London and Glasgow just days before.

He was charged on July 14 with providing support to a terrorist organisation. The DPP wrongly told the court that a mobile phone SIM card given by Dr Haneef to his cousin last year had been found at the scene of the attempted bombing at Glasgow airport, and that he had lived for up to two years with alleged terrorists.

In the Brisbane Magistrates Court yesterday, prosecutor Alan MacSporran SC said that Mr Bugg had determined there was "no reasonable prospect of a conviction of Dr Haneef being secured". Mr MacSporran said the DPP's decision was based on two police records of interview with Dr Haneef "and subsequent inquiries here and overseas".

He also corrected two statements made at the initial court hearing that were wrong. Mr MacSporran said the statements were made at the early stage of the investigation and the prosecutor who made the incorrect statements did not have the benefit of a prepared statement of facts.

The two wrong statements concerned the assertion that a SIM card had been found in a burning vehicle at the Glasgow airport and that Dr Haneef had resided with "persons of interest" in relation to the British attempted bombing.

John Howard, speaking in Bali, distanced himself from the case. The Prime Minister said yesterday's moves were up to Mr Keelty and Mr Bugg to explain. "Prime ministers don't conduct prosecutors, nor do attorneys-general -- directors of public prosecutions do," he said.

Mr Keelty said yesterday police were continuing investigations into a number of people in Australia in connection with the failed British terror attacks. "It will continue until we satisfy ourselves that the matter is finalised as far as the Australian connection is concerned and as far as the outstanding UK inquiries are conducted," he said.

Mr Keelty said the AFP had acted on the advice of the DPP that there was sufficient evidence to charge Dr Haneef and now accepted the subsequent decision by the DPP to withdraw the charge.

Mr Bugg said he would consider making a formal apology to Dr Haneef after conducting a full review of the DPP's handling of the case. He acknowledged the DPP had put two errors of fact before the court in charging Dr Haneef.

After conducting a review of the DPP's handling of the case Mr Bugg admitted there was simply not enough evidence to establish a reasonable prospect of conviction. He said yesterday that at no stage of the charging process had there been any attempt to influence his decision from "government, any politician or political office".

Dr Haneef's solicitor Peter Russo called for the immediate reinstatement of Dr Haneef's work visa. "It's frustrating that the minister can't seem to be able to make a decision that everybody else in Australia has been able to come to," he said.

Mr Russo said his client was "very pleased" with the DPP's decision and expressed his thanks to his supporters. "He's quite upbeat and relaxed ... He's just had some very serious charges dropped," he said.

Additional reporting: Tony Koch, Matthew Franklin