Haneef to seek compensation, lawyer confirms
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The AFP say Mohamed Haneef is no longer a person of interest. (AFP: Dibyangshu Sarkar, file photo)
A lawyer representing Mohamed Haneef says his client will be seeking compensation after the Australian Federal Police officially dropped the Indian-born doctor as a person of interest.
Dr Haneef was arrested and charged over a terrorism plot in the UK in July last year but the case against him later collapsed.
In a statement on Friday, the AFP said there was insufficient evidence to charge Dr Haneef with any criminal offence and it has concluded its investigations, except for some inquiries overseas.
Lawyer Rod Hodgson says Dr Haneef will be seeking compensation after the federal inquiry headed by John Clarke QC into the case is over.
"I have spoken to Dr Haneef and he is obviously concerned that his reputation has been impugned over the last 13 months by the AFP continuing to refer to him as a suspect," he said.
"And we have made no secret of the fact that he will be seeking compensation for the immense damage to his career, his family and his reputation."
Greens leader Bob Brown says the AFP needs to properly explain the reasons why it pursued the case against Dr Haneef.
He says the judicial inquiry into the matter needs to have wider scope.
"The inquiry needs to go right up the line to the Prime Minister Howard himself to establish how on the basis of no real evidence which would support a prosecution such a hash could be made," he said.
"The explanation needs to say how this could have become such a damaging episode not just for Dr Haneef but for this nation."
