Australias Labour Party leader Kevin Rudd has strongly criticised the handling of Indian born doctor Mohamed Haneefs case by Immigration Minister Kevin Andrews, and listed a number of inconsistencies in the latters statements.
Sydney, Aug 2 : Australia's Labour Party leader Kevin Rudd has strongly criticised the handling of Indian born doctor Mohamed Haneef's case by Immigration Minister Kevin Andrews, and listed a number of inconsistencies in the latter's statements.
"Take this for example - on July 27 Andrews said he would not release Dr Haneef from immigration detention, and on July 28 he released Dr Haneef. I don't know the basis for the change in that position. On July 28, Andrews said that he had no objection to Haneef leaving Australia; but on July 29 he claimed Haneef's decision to leave actually heightened rather than lessened his suspicions," Rudd said.
He said Andrews tried to give a false statement when he claimed that Dr Haneef attempted to fly home to see his baby born a month ago, and later he admitted that the baby was born six days ago.
"All I'm saying is that these positions are difficult for us to understand; those most recent positions and statements by Mr Andrews," the Sydney Morning Herald quoted Rudd as saying.
The Labour Party has supported in principle the John Howard Government's handling of the terror charge against Dr Haneef, but Rudd demanded independent judicial inquiry to restore public confidence that the Indian doctor's case had been handled properly.
"We've supported this anti-terror legislation through the Parliament, but as the alternative government, we want to have absolute confidence that these laws have been properly applied as well."
ANI