The Hindu : Front Page : Court restores Haneef’s visa

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Saturday, Dec 22, 2007
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Court restores Haneef’s visa

P.S. Suryanarayana

Australia’s Immigration Minister says he can return and take up employment

SINGAPORE: Indian doctor Mohamed Haneef, whose work visa in Australia was cancelled in July even as he was granted bail in a case of terror charge that later collapsed, is now “entitled to return” and “take up employment.”

This was indicated by the new Immigration and Citizenship Minister Chris Evans in Perth, following a ruling by the full Bench of the Federal Court of Australia in Melbourne on Friday.

The three-judge Full Court dismissed with costs an appeal by Kevin Andrews, Immigration and Citizenship Minister in the Howard government that lost the general election last month.

Character test

Mr. Andrews, who annulled Dr. Haneef’s visa in “a character test” under Australia’s Migration Act, filed this appeal against Federal Court judge Jeffrey Spender’s order that in August set aside the visa cancellation.

The crux of the former Minister’s argument was that Dr. Haneef, at the time of the “character test,” was found to have had an “association” with two second cousins, who were suspected to have been involved in terror plots in the United Kingdom.

The terrorism charge against him, which was dismissed by an Australian court in July, centred on his mobile phone SIM card that he left with one of his cousins in the U.K. before taking up a job in Queensland in 2006.

Upholding judge Spender’s ruling that Mr. Andrews had “misinterpreted” the scope of the “character test,” Chief Justice Michael Black said: “In a unanimous judgment, the Full Court has concluded that the ‘association,’ to which Section 501(6)(b) of the Migration Act refers, is one involving some sympathy with, or support for, or involvement in the criminal conduct of the person, group, or organisation with which the visa holder is said to have associated. The association must be such as to have some bearing upon the person’s character.”

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