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Australia police want more time with Indian doctor

09 Jul 2007 23:53:13 GMT
Source: Reuters

CANBERRA July 10 (Reuters) - Australian and British police are likely to ask for more time to question an Indian doctor held over failed car bomb attacks in London and Glasgow, Australian Federal Police Commissioner Mick Keelty said on Tuesday.

But Keelty said a 48-hour detension extension approved on Monday night may not be enough as complaints came in from rights groups about draconian anti-terror laws that allow police to hold Queensland-based hospital doctor Mohamed Haneef without charge with court approval. "If it's required we will go back to the magistrate. What we're doing here is applying the law that we operate under in these circumstances," Keelty told Australian radio. Haneef, 27, is one of six Indian doctors to be questioned in Australia over the suspected al Qaeda-linked plot in Britain. The others have already been released.

Police had asked for a five day extension, but a Brisbane judge allowed only 6 p.m. (0800 GMT) on Wednesday, after which police will have 12 hours to question Haneef, release him, or apply for another detention warrant.

"What we are estimating is the amount of material that needs to be examined on both sides of the globe, the material that's been seized in the UK and the material that's been seized here," Keelty said.

Two car bombs primed to explode in London's bustling theatre and nightclub district were discovered the day before a jeep crashed into the terminal building at Glasgow airport on June 30 and burst into flames.

A police agent has travelled to India to work with authorities there on more than 30,000 documents seized during searches in three Australian states, including Haneef's laptop computer. British police are also assisting their Australian counterparts.

Haneef's lawyer, Peter Russo, on Tuesday said his client was being denied natural justice with no access to bail provisions and crucial information being witheld by Australian authorities.

"There's no sort of safety net, there's no way of the system being balanced for our client to be accorded any sort of rights or natural justice that we are all entitled to receive under our system," he told Australian Broadcasting Corp. radio.

Several leading civil rights lawyers and a former Australian High Court chief justice have also criticised the anti-terrorism laws, which are being used for the first time. They allow detention without charge for as long as a judge approves.

Australia's Attorney-General Philip Ruddock said the laws were reasonable and in reality were likely to lead to shorter detention periods than in the UK, where police were able to hold militant suspects for up to 28 days without charge.

"Something in the order of 120 gigabytes of computer data is being examined. That's the equivalent of 31,000 single page documents. It's one of the reasons the matter takes so long," he said.

Haneef was detained eight days ago while trying to leave Australia with a one-way ticket to India. His family in India said he was innocent and planned only to visit his wife and newborn daughter.

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Last updated:Mon Jul 9 23:54:51 2007