Mohammed Haneef

Melbourne, July 23 (PTI): Australian investigating officers wrote names of overseas terror suspects in Mohammed Haneef’s personal diary and later grilled him over them, it was revealed today.

The revelation in The Australian came hours after Mick Keelty, the chief of Australian Federal Police (AFP), dismissed reports of the Indian doctor’s suspected involvement in a plot to attack Gold Coast’s tallest building yesterday.

But Keelty said the report, based on an interview conducted shortly after Haneef’s arrest on July 2, was incorrect. “Police at no time made any notations or additions to Haneef’s diary,” he was quoted as saying in the media.

The Australian quoted an interview between Haneef and AFP counter-terrorism officers Adam Simms and Neil Thompson.

Towards the end of the interview, which occurred soon after Haneef was held at the Brisbane airport for allegedly providing support to a terrorist organisation involved in the failed UK car-bomb plot, Simms said: “In your diary, you had handwritten notes. Is this your writing?”

Haneef responded: “No. This is not my writing. Definitely not.”

The officers then pointed to some notes that included the name and contact details of Haneef’s second cousin Kafeel Ahmed, who had rammed a flaming jeep into Glasgow airport.

“Police who have been looking through your diary have found some handwritten notes in the back of your diary. And one of these handwritten notes is details for Kafeel Ahmed. Telephone numbers and looks like an address. A couple of addresses. Now, that writing there, is that your writing?”

When Haneef again denied it was his writing, Simms left the room. He returned and said: “Thought that might have been the case. In fact, it’s not. This is what’s been written by police. So it’s not your handwriting at all.”

The alleged insertions in Haneef’s diary were exposed during an analysis of the leaked 142-page record of the interview.

Keelty said the episode highlighted the problem with releasing records of police interviews before they are presented in court. “When misinterpreted or taken out of context — and in the absence of other material that will be placed before the court — this has the potential to undermine the court process.”

The report added to the embarrassment of the Australian authorities, already facing flak after a crucial allegation against the doctor — that his mobile SIM card was found at the scene of the Glasgow bombing attempt — turned out to be false.

“It was the last thing Keelty needed after weeks of controversy over the Haneef case, including British police sources describing Australian police as ‘a laughing stock’,” a media report said today.

Australian authorities today cleared the way for a relative to visit the Indian doctor tomorrow, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation reported.

Haneef’s lawyer Peter Russo said he initially had some trouble clearing Imran Siddiqui’s visit. “I think there was just an issue in relation to criminal history checks, because Imran comes from overseas, and it just took a little longer.”

Imran, a cousin of Haneef’s wife Firdous Arshiya, arrived in Brisbane on Saturday night from Bangalore.

“Now that Imran is here, obviously I have to spend some time with him trying to resolve some of the issues with him,” he was quoted as saying by ABC.

Imran said Haneef’s family had found the ordeal “traumatic” but was coping well. “It has been quite difficult but still the family is coping well.”