I don't think Haneef will go back to Australia: Wife

BANGALORE: The wife of Mohammed Haneef, bound for his home here after Australian authorities dropped terror charges against him, on Sunday said she believed he would not return to that country.

Speaking two days after Haneef was freed following 25 days in detention, his wife Firdous Arshiya said, "No, I don't think he'll go back."

"I don't have anything against the Australian people. In fact I'm grateful that they put in so much, that too for a foreigner, but I guess he can't go back to the country."

Her comments came in the wake of Haneef's statement that he was optimistic about returning to Australia one day to pursue his medical career.

Despite his ordeal of four weeks spent in custody amid a bungled terror investigation, Haneef said, "Even after I go back to India, I might think about coming back here."

His father-in-law Ashwaq said Haneef could find work in any country but should 'never' return to Australia.

Haneef, who worked for Gold Coast Hospital in Brisbane before his arrest in connection with the failed terror plot in Britain, flew to Bangkok, from where he would travel to Bangalore.