Haneef’s barrister takes on Ruddock – come and take me!

Haneef’s barrister Stephen Keim says he had no choice but to leak the documentary evidence concerning the terrorist charges against his client in the face of what he sees as the government skewing the evidence on what is a very weak case and unlikely to withstand scrutiny in a court of law. Come and take me if I’ve done anything wrong!

Keim says the government has no secret information otherwise it would have been presented to the Magistrate as grounds to refuse bail. The DPP case is that Haneef lived, worked, and associated with his 2nd cousin (who has not been charged). This was the basis for exceptional circumstance for granting bail. Ruddock says Haneef is of bad character and must be deported even if he is found innocent. Why? Because the government says so.
Keim wanted the public to have access to the same evidence the government is using to justify its actions so the debate can be fully informed.

Meanwhile Ruddock sees no problem with any publicity which might adversely affect Haneef’s chances for a fair trial because he says that under Australian law he will get a fair trial. To ensure that he gets a fair trial, we’ll keep him locked for 6-12 months before the trial so any prejudicial public memory will have long faded. That’s certainly reassuring. We can lock you up on spurious charges with no substantial evidence for as long as we want, say what we want about you for whatever reason and when it’s all blown over in a year or few you’re guaranteed a fair trial! Sounds reasonable when you put it like that.

Way to win an election, boys! It seems like it’s getting hot in the bunker and the air is running out.

Filed under: Australian values, Media, Politics