Australian federal police charged an Indian doctor with providing support to a terrorist organization Saturday, allegedly linking him to last month's failed British bombings.
| An Indian you say! A Hindu? A Sikh? A Christian? A Buddhist? |
Muhammad Haneef, 27, is accused of providing a group suspected in the botched attacks with access to his mobile phone SIM card, police said.
| NO!!!! None of those faiths! |
Mr. Haneef is the second person to be charged in the attacks on London and Glasgow on June 29 and 30. The other is Bilal Abdullah, who is being held in London on charges of conspiring to set off explosions. “The specific allegation involves recklessness rather than intention,” Federal Police Commissioner Mick Keelty told reporters. Haneef had been “reckless about some of the support he provided to that group, in particular the provision of his SIM card.”
British police raised suspicions about Mr. Haneef when they allegedly found his mobile telephone's SIM card in the possession of one of the men accused in the failed car bomb attacks last month.
| Hey, people swap SIM cards all the time. What's the big deal? Not like they were exchanging garage door openers or anything. |
Media reports later identified the man as Sabeel Ahmed, Mr. Haneef's distant cousin and former lover housemate, who is being questioned by British police over the foiled plot.
Official documents cited by The Australian newspaper on Friday said Mr. Haneef gave the SIM card to Mr. Ahmed before he moved to Australia so that his cousin could take advantage of free minutes left on his mobile phone plan.
| Next time get the Family Plan and share those minutes. |
Commissioner Keelty confirmed police would oppose bail when Mr. Haneef appears in Brisbane court later in the day. The police chief said Mr. Haneef would be prosecuted in Australia unless British police “have any evidence in the U.K. that would sustain an extradition application.”
A suspect can only be extradited to another country if that country has enough evidence to charge the person with an offence.
In Britain, the office of the prime minister, the Home Office, the Foreign Office and London's Metropolitan Police all declined to comment on the charges when reached early Saturday.
Police began interrogating Mr. Haneef on Friday afternoon after withdrawing a court application to extend his detention without charge beyond Friday. Under Australia's counter-terror laws, police can only hold a suspect without charge with a court order. Mr. Haneef was charged early Saturday after being questioned in hour-long blocks through Friday afternoon and early Saturday morning, his lawyer Peter Russo told reporters in Brisbane.
Mr. Russo said his client was extremely upset by the charge and would apply for bail.
| "You ain't got nuttin' on me, coppers! Nuttin'! Let me speak to me mouthpiece!" |
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