Australia releases Indian doctor

BRISBANE, Australia -- An Indian doctor was set free yesterday after Australia's chief prosecutor said a charge linking him to failed bombings in Britain was a mistake.

Mohamed Haneef, 27, was released from prison in the eastern city of Brisbane more than three weeks after he was arrested at an airport as he was about to fly to India. Prosecutors withdrew the charge after a review of the evidence by Damian Bugg, the federal director of public prosecutions, found that his office should never have recommended it.

"Mistakes are embarrassing. . . . I'm disappointed that it's happened and I will first thing next week try to obtain a better understanding of how it came about," Bugg told reporters in Canberra.

The withdrawn charge accused Haneef of providing reckless support to a terrorist organization. He could have faced up to 15 years in prison if convicted.

He was accused of giving his SIM cellphone card to a cousin in Britain a year ago as he left the country for a hospital job in Australia. That cousin, Sabeel Ahmed, 26, has been charged by British police with withholding information that could prevent an act of terrorism.

Ahmed's brother, Kafeel Ahmed, is believed to have set himself ablaze after crashing a car into Glasgow Airport and remains in a Scottish hospital with critical burns.

In Brisbane, prosecutor Alan MacSporran said authorities had erred in telling the court that Haneef's SIM card had been discovered inside the vehicle used to attack the Glasgow airport. The card was found in the possession of Sabeel Ahmed in Liverpool, more than 185 miles from the attack scene.

A second error related to claims that Haneef had lived with the Ahmed brothers in Liverpool before he moving to Australia last year.

Haneef has denied knowing anything about the British bomb plot, and told police he gave his SIM card to his cousin so he could take advantage of extra minutes left on the account.

He told police he was rushing to India to join his family because his daughter had been born a few days earlier by emergency Caesarean section.

Bugg and the chief investigator, Australian Police Commissioner Mick Keelty, said the case had been complicated by a 10-hour time difference between Australia and Britain, which hampered communications between investigators.

Keelty said Bugg's office had been under pressure to evaluate the evidence quickly.