Haneef Victory!

The Australian people have forced the dropping of anti-terrorism charges against Dr Mohamed Haneef.

The injustice of the case was clear to all, and reflected in a daily outpouring of anger and shame in letters to the editors of capitalist newspapers.

Howard has attempted to wash his hands of the affair, saying that it was up to the Director of Public Prosecutions and the Commissioner of the Australian Federal Police to explain what had gone wrong.

This won't wash.

As a Communist I freely acknowledge that Keelty, head of the AFP, has been quite circumspect in his public comments on the “war on terror”; that he has more than once cautioned against demonising the Australian Muslim community; and that he has at least once been in quite open conflict with the Howard Government over its pursuit of the “war on terror”.

The position of Bugg, the Director of Public Prosecutions, is less clear, or less well-known, but his brother as head of the Law Council of Australia, has been openly critical of the Government decision to strip Haneef of his Section 247 visa.

What is certain, obvious to all, is that Howard has done more than anyone to create an atmosphere in which anything less than an unquestioning acceptance of the US-inspired “war on terror” is an act of national betrayal.

His Cabinet met and discussed the case, and the Minister for Immigration, the silver-spooned Mr Andrews, subsequently cancelled Haneef's visa on the basis of his having failed the “character test”.

This ensured that he remained in detention despite a Brisbane magistrate ordering his release on bail.

Howard must go before he does any further damage to our international reputation and our domestic rights and freedoms.

Andrews must resign for reckless abuse of ministerial authority and for rushing to political interference in the judicial process.

Haneef has been placed into “residential detention” because of the Government's cancellation of his visa. But he cannot return to his residence because it was so thoroughly trashed by the police following his arrest.

Restore Haneef's visa now! No threat of deportation!

Let him work he if he wishes, or let him go home to his family in India, with proper compensation for his sufferings.

But don't bullshit to Australians again!