[NYTr] Aussies Drop "Terror" Case; Court Rules Suspect's Right Breached

[All the News That Doesn't Fit]

sent by MichaelP - activ-l

Jurist - Nov 12, 2007
http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/paperchase/2007/11/australia-drops-terror-case-after-court.php

Aussies Drop "Terror" Case; Court Rules Suspect's Right Breached

Australia  drops  terror  case  after  court  rules security officials 
breached suspect's rights

[JURIST]  Australian prosecutors dismissed a terrorist training charge 
against  Izhar  Ul-Haque  Monday after the New South  Wales  Supreme 
Court found that two officials belonging to the Australian   Security 
Intelligence   Organization  (ASIO)  had violated his rights by
kidnapping and falsely imprisoning him.  Judge Michael Adams found that
ASIO agents coerced Ul-Haque into a   vehicle,  threatened  him  with
serious consequences  unless  he cooperated  with the ASIO, and
illegally detained him as they searched his home. The judge ruled 
[<http://www.lawlink.nsw.gov.au/scjudgments/2007nswsc.nsf/6ccf7431c546464bca2570e6001a45d2/d9a9080227820bddca257389007c91e4?OpenDocument>] 
that the ASIO's misconduct meant that later  interviews  conducted  by 
the  Australian Federal Police (AFP) were inadmissible because the AFP
did not obtain a proper  warrant  to  detain  and  question  Ul-Haque
at his residence. Ul-Haque  allegedly  received  training from the 
Lashkar-e-Taiba between  January  and February 2003, although the group 
was  not  designated  by  the  Australian  government  as  a terrorist 
organization until late 2003.

The   decision  is  the  latest  setback  for  Australian  anti-terror 
prosecutions.  In  August, the Federal Court of Australia ruled   that
the government should reinstate the work visa of Mohammad  Haneef , who
was detained by Australian authorities  in  July  in  connection  with
the attempted UK car bomb terror  attacks . Haneef, who had not been 
implicated by  UK  authorities,  was detained for 25 days for allegedly 
providing reckless  material support to the suspected terrorists. The 
Australian government  is appealing the reinstatement of Haneef's work 
visa.  Reuters  has  more.  The  Sydney Morning Herald has local
coverage.

                              ***

The  Sydney Morning Herald - Nov 12, 2007
http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/terror-case-thrown-out/2007/11
/12/1194766545813.html

Terrorism charges against Izhar ul-Haque have been dropped.

Justice Michael Adams said one ASIO officer had committed the crime of 
false imprisonment and kidnap at common law

A  high profile terror case was abandoned before it got to trial today 
after  a  judge found that two ASIO officers had kidnapped and falsely 
imprisoned a young medical student, Izhar ul-Haque.

Mr  ul-Haque's  lawyer,  Adam  Houda,  later  accused  authorities  of 
launching  a  politically  motivated and "moronic prosecution" against
his client.

In  a scathing judgment, NSW Supreme Court Justice Michael Adams found 
that  two  ASIO officers had broken the law in a deliberate attempt to 
coerce answers from Mr ul-Haque.

"I  am  satisfied  that  B15 and B16 [the ASIO officers] committed the 
criminal  offences  of false imprisonment and kidnapping at common law
and also  an  offence  under section 86 of the Crimes Act," the judge
said.

He  said  this misconduct meant subsequent police records of interview 
with Mr ul-Haque were inadmissible as evidence.

The  judge's findings forced the Crown to withdraw its case against Mr 
ul-Haque, just before a trial jury was to be empanelled.

Mr  ul-Haque  had  faced  charges  of training with the Pakistan-based 
terrorist group, Lashkar-e-Toiba since April 2004.

He  was  accused  of  receiving  weapons  and combat training from the 
organisation during a visit to Pakistan in January and February 2003.

"This  is  reminiscent  of  Kafka,"  Justice  Adams  said in a lengthy 
judgment  in  which  he  derided  the  misconduct  of  both  ASIO  and 
Australian Federal Police officers.

He  detailed  how ASIO officers had confronted Mr ul-Haque, forced him 
into  a  car and then taken him to a park where he was threatened with 
serious consequences if he did not co-operate fully.

Justice  Adams  said Mr ul-Haque rightly believed had no choice but to 
comply with all their demands.

The  student  was  taken to his home where as many as 30 plain-clothes 
intelligence  officers  and police conducted a search while his family 
watched.

Mr ul-Haque was then interviewed again amid continuing threats against 
him, even though ASIO only had a search warrant.

It was a "gross breach of the powers given to the officers given under
the warrant"  Justice Adams said, adding later that at least one ASIO
officer had broken the common law and legislative protections against
false imprisonment.

He  also  heavily  criticised  two  AFP  officers  who had demanded Mr 
ul-Haque  become  their  informant  against  Faheem  Lodhi,  a  Sydney 
architect  who  was found guilty last year of terrorism offences. That 
verdict is now subject to appeal.

The   police   officers  also  threatened  Mr  ul-Haque  with  adverse 
consequences if he didn't comply.

However,  Mr  ul-Haque  refused  to  wear  a  wire  and to spy for the 
authorities,  and  was  charged  three  months  later  with  a  single 
terrorism offence.

Justice Adams detailed evidence of how law enforcement authorities had 
told  Mr ul-Haque all along they accepted that his brief training with 
Lashkar-e-Toiba  was  linked  to  the  Indian presence in the disputed 
state of Kashmir and had nothing to do with Australia.

Mr  ul-Haque declined to to comment to the waiting media after today's 
case ended.

However, Mr Houda said his client had been unfairly persecuted.

"This  has  been  a  moronic  prosecution,"  Mr  Houda said. "From the 
beginning,  this  was  no more than a political show trial designed to 
justify the billions of dollars spent on counter-terrorism."