Melbourne, July 27
Indian doctor Mohamed Haneef, held by Australian police on terror charges, was today released from custody after the case against him collapsed dramatically in a court with the prosecution admitting mistakes, causing huge embarrassment to the federal government.

The end to the 25-day detention of the doctor, charged with providing support to a terrorist organisation by leaving his SIM card with his cousin, one of the suspects in the failed UK terror plot, came this afternoon at a Brisbane magistrate’s court following a review.

The end to the 25-day detention of the Bangalore doctor, charged with recklessly providing support to a terrorist organisation by leaving his SIM card with his cousin, one of the suspects in the failed UK terror plot, came this afternoon at a Brisbane magistrate’s court following a review.

“On my view of this matter, a mistake has been made…,” Commonwealth director of public prosecution Damian Bugg said, adding he withdrew the charges because he was satisfied “there was no reasonable prospect of conviction.”

Haneef’s lawyer Peter Russo said his client was free but he had no idea where he would go because he has no home after he failed to pay rent for the Gold Coast unit when he was in detention.

His cousin Imran Siddiqi, who had gone from Bangalore, said the first thing they would like to look at is “what happens to Haneef’s visa”.

Shortly later, Haneef, who was working as a doctor at Gold Coast Hospital in Queensland, was conditionally freed from custody, requiring him to report to the Immigration Department by phone every day and in person every week.

Immigration minister Kevin Andrews, who had earlier revoked Haneef’s visa immediately after a court gave him bail, said the doctor would now be released into residential detention.

Under attack from civil rights groups and political parties, the Australian government sought to distance itself from the legal fiasco and its fallout. Australian Prime Minister John Howard, who had stoutly defended the police and prosecution all along, today said Federal Police Commissioner Mick Keelty and DPP chief Bugg were responsible for the handling of the case.

“I think that the right thing now is for those two men to explain the process and the reasons,” he said at Bali.

Foreign minister Alexander Downer also sought to distance the government from the case, claiming no damage had been caused to the ties with India. Attorney general Philip Ruddock said it is regrettable that charges were ever laid against Haneef, but he would not be apologising to the Indian doctor. — PTI