The Doctor is free

So - the charges against Dr Haneef have been dropped. They probably shouldn't have been brought against him in the first place, since the evidence has now turned out to be slim to non-existent. But that's what happens when politics get in the way of justice - i think it's pretty obvious that there was political interference in this case. I think that's incredibly sad, though, that the government would interfere in a case like this. I'd love to be able to trust the government to do the right thing, to let the justice system work, to uphold the law. But after seeing the way John Howard and friends have operated over the last few years I just can't believe anything they say anymore.

Anyway - the case started out well enough. Dr Haneef was linked to the terrorists in the UK, so questioning and investigating him had to be done. It would have been irresponsible not to take him in for investigation.

The investigation did drag on for a while, but that's reasonable too. Sometimes it is hard to work out what's going on, and the process was overseen by a magistrate.

It all went wrong, though, when charges were brought and Kevin Andrews canceled his visa. Canceling his visa would have been fine, if he was found guilty. But to cancel his visa just because he's been charged is crazy. At that point, politics trumped justice. That's when I started to really think that this case was more about political advantage than facts and justice. Kevin Andrews was a bit of an idiot canceling Dr Haneefs visa before he was found guilty of anything.

And now Andrews and the whole government look like a bunch of idiots. The charges have been dropped. But they haven't apologised to Dr Haneef, or reinstated his visa.

I don't think the police really need to apologise over this case. They were just doing their job, although they should probably explain why the investigation seems to have been bungled. The prosecutors should explain why charges were brought on such flimsy evidence that they had to be dropped. And if they can't offer a good explanation, then they should apologise. But the government has the most explaining to do. The decision to cancel the doctors visa seems to have been purely political. They need to explain in detail why that was done, and apologise. For conducting a trial by media, if nothing else. The way this whole situation was handled by the government was just wrong. Again, politics trumps justice.

I don't actually expect them to do this, though. They'll just keep maintaining that they have "secret evidence" that justifies canceling Dr Haneefs visa. I hate the thought that we now have a system that relies on secret evidence and suspicion for making decisions; decisions that we can't check for ourselves. The government keeps asking us to trust them, on so many things, but they've proved themselves untrustworthy time after time. And in any case, I don't think they know that the word sorry even exists.

Other links - Barista, Larvatus Prodeo, Blogocracy.