Mohammed Haneef broke down in jail after coming to know of the widespread support he was getting from common people in Australia, his lawyer said.
MELBOURNE: Indian doctor Mohammed Haneef, charged with supporting a terrorist organisation, broke down in jail after coming to know of the widespread support he was getting from common people in Australia, his lawyer said.
The 27-year old doctor from Bangalore was surprised and deeply touched when told fellow lawyers as well as ordinary people were rallying behind him and broke down, his lawyer Peter Russo told protestors outside the Department of Immigration.
"Some of what's occurring today may come as a little bit of a shock to him," Russo said adding "He was moved to tears when I told him about the support because I think for him he hasn't understood the impact that it's had on the rest of the community and I don't think he regards himself as being such an important person," 'The Australian' quoted him as saying.
He said he expected Haneef would be amazed at his high-profile coverage after having access to newspapers and television news reports for the first time last night since his arrest at Brisbane Airport on July two.
"I'm pretty sure he will be stunned and he's going to have a million questions for me," he said.
He was moved to the Wolston correctional centre on Wednesday after failing to post a $10,000 surety, which would allow him to be transferred to the Villawood Immigration Detention Centre in Sydney.
He is charged with supporting a terrorist organization after giving a mobile phone SIM card to a relative later accused of being involved in plotting car bomb attacks in the UK.
Protesters, including a handful of Indian nationals and Muslims, today ridiculed the charge, holding their mobile phones up in a show of unity and calling for the government to take their 'offensive weapons' from them.
Signs read, "Reckless with a SIM? Arrest Shane Warne?", "Howard: 600,000 Iraqis killed.
Meanwhile, high-profile lawyer Julian Burnside on Thursday said Haneef's appeal in the Federal Court against his visa revocation has a good chance of success.
Haneef remains in a Brisbane jail on terrorism-related charges after Immigration Minister Kevin Andrews cancelled the Indian doctor's visa, despite a Brisbane Magistrate granting him conditional bail earlier this week.
According to court documents, the defence argued that the Minister acted improperly because he cancelled Haneef's visa in order to keep him in custody after he had been granted bail, according ABC report.
The documents also accused the Minister of failing to take into account the nature and extent of Haneef's alleged association with his cousins, who are suspects in the recent foiled UK bomb plot.
Burnside said the grounds for the defence case are unusual, but good.
"The timing of events suggests that it was the grant of bail that prompted the Minister to cancel the visa and it's quite clear that the Minister did not intend to deport Haneef," he said.
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