Australia planning to deport Haneef

MELBOURNE: Under fire for handling the case of Mohd Haneef charged with supporting a terror group and crumbling evidence against him, the Australia government is planning to deport the Indian doctor to contain adverse political fallout at home.

Australian newspapers quoting unnamed government sources said a number of senior political figures wanted the case against "shut down" before more damage is done.

They said such a move would contain any political fallout from a case whose legitimacy has come under question, 'The Australian' said.

"Our best option is to cancel the Criminal Justice Certificate, which was issued to keep Haneef here in Australia after we cancelled his visa, and that is my understanding of what our intentions are," one Government source told 'The Age'.

"Cancel the certificate and get this guy out of Australia. The story ends there and he can become someone else's problem," the source added.

The reports about the possibility of deporting 27-year- old Haneef came against the backdrop of Australian Federal Police's admission that the SIM card given by him to cousin Sabeel Ahmed, another Indian doctor arrested in Britain in connection with the failed UK terror plots, was not found inside the blazing jeep rammed into Glasgow airport.

The Australian government's handling of the Haneef issue came in for flak from lawyers and civil rights groups who were joined by Premier of Queensland state Peter Beattie who described the case against the Gold Coast doctor as "sloppy".