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Dr Mohammed Haneef is finally free

July 27, 2007

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

Shortly later, Haneef, who was working as a doctor in 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 he has made a residential determination meaning that rather being detained in immigration custody, he will be released into residential detention.

Haneef's wife Firdous Arshiya said the 'truth had come out' but said she would not press for an apology from Australian authorities blamed for sloppy handling of the case.

"I am happy that the charges of terrorism have been dropped against him. He has been proved innocent. The truth has come out," said Firdous, who appeared relaxed and composed after four weeks of tension ever since her husband was arrested on July 2 linked to the failed UK terror plot.

Making it clear that she will oppose any move by the Australian authorities to deport Haneef, she said: "I do not want him to be deported. I want him to return normally."

Firdous said she was yet to receive any official communication on the matter but Haneef's lawyers and her cousin Imran Siddiqui, who is in Australia to help him, had briefed her on the developments.

Image: Haneef's wife Firdous Arshiya was ecstatic on hearing about terror charges being dropped.
Photograph: Dibyangshu Sarkar/AFP/Getty Images
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