Doctor Mohamed Haneef, who returned home to India today after a terrorism-related charge against him was dropped, says he was “victimised” by the Australian authorities.
Dr Haneef spent more than three weeks in detention in Australia on one count of “reckless” support for a terrorist group, but the charge was dropped on Friday and he was later released.
Dr Haneef flew into the southern Indian city of Bangalore late today and was whisked from the airport to be reunited with his wife and to see his one-month-old child for the first time.
“It’s an emotional moment being with my family at home after a long wait of 27 days,” he read from a short statement.
“I was victimised by the Australian authority and the drama played by the Australian Federal Police.”
The freed doctor was received by joyous relatives at his home, which was decorated with flowers and special lights. Indian officials said Dr Haneef would be offered a job in a Bangalore hospital.
Before leaving Brisbane, he said he had never been a terror threat and that even police investigators did not know what to ask him during his detention.
Australian police had alleged Dr Haneef provided a mobile phone SIM card to members of the terror group behind last month’s attempted attacks in Britain. But Dr Haneef said he had merely given away the card in Britain before moving to Australia to take up a job as a hospital registrar.
“It is a tremendous amount of trauma that I have gone through, that I have never imagined in my life,” he told 60 Minutes in a paid interview taped before his departure for India.
