One of the lawyers representing Mohammed Haneef Tuesday expressed fears the Indian doctor may be kept out of Australia regardless of the outcome of an appeal challenging the restoration of his visa.
Warning of the impact of politics on the legal system, Barrister Stephen Keim said success in the high court may not be enough to guarantee his client's return to Australia because Immigration Minister Kevin Andrews could simply make a "fresh political decision" and cancel Haneef's visa on different grounds.
"We can win in the high court and the next day -- although knowing Andrews as I do, probably the same day -- Andrews will be free to seek another brief from law enforcement agencies and make a fresh political decision and cancel Haneef's visa," Keim said in his address to the National Conference of Community Legal Centres in Brisbane.
Haneef's lawyers last month won an appeal against Andrews' decision to cancel the Indian doctor's visa after he was cleared of terror-related charges. The Federal Court judge hearing the trial ruled the minister had made a "jurisdictional error" in cancelling Haneef's visa on character grounds. Andrews has appealed the decision. Keim said without his visa, Haneef was "basically crippled" because it limited his chances of travelling and working overseas, The Age reported.
"Every time he applies to go to a conference in the United States or in Europe or in England or anywhere else in the world, he will always have to disclose: 'I'm the person who for bad character and national security reasons had my visa cancelled in 2007'," Keim said. "At the end of the day that decision, which affects my client drastically, is a political decision."
Haneef was arrested and charged in July over suspected links with failed terrorism plots in London and Glasgow on June 29 and 30 but the charges were eventually dropped and he returned to India in late July. However, he has repeatedly insisted that he would like to return to work at the Gold Coast Hospital to complete his medical studies.