Terrorism and technology down under

Minister’s chatroom evidence incomplete: Dr Haneef
Mohammed Haneef, an Indian doctor held on terror charges in Australia, has said that the Internet chatroom evidence presented by Australian Immigration Minister Kevin Andrews did not reveal the full story.
http://www.zdnet.com.au/news/security/soa/Minister-s-chatroom-evidence-incomplete-Dr-Haneef/0,130061744,339280819,00.htmConcern over how AFP got comments
Federal police are refusing to say how they got snippets of online conversations between Mohamed Haneef and his brother. The Herald asked the Australian Federal Police yesterday how they got the transcript of the internet conversation last month.
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2007/08/01/1185647979267.htmlKeelty blunders again on Haneef
Australian Federal Police Commissioner Mick Keelty yesterday added another gaffe to the mistake-strewn case against Mohamed Haneef, confusing the location of the terror suspect’s mobile phone SIM card.
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According to the translation provided by Mr Andrews on Tuesday, the conversation on an internet chatroom shows Dr Haneef’s brother urging the terror suspect to leave Australia as quickly as possible as “nothing has been found out about you”. Dr Haneef, speaking in Bangalore last night, agreed that the transcript as released by Mr Andrews had been taken out of context. “Once you get the (full transcript of) the whole chat, you will understand it,” he said.
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,22175066-601,00.htmlCOMMENT: New election, same old tactics by Stephen Matchett
Different election, same cynical stunt. From the moment the investigation into Mohamed Haneef began to unravel, the Government has had two objectives: to save something, anything, of Immigration Minister Kevin Andrews’ ravaged reputation and to ensure it still made some electoral mileage from the affair.
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,22175082-5013404,00.htmlEDITORIAL: Reaching for dog whistle and stick: A familiar pattern has emerged from the Haneef affair
ONE of the worst aspects of the dog-whistle politics that has been on display through the political intervention in the case of Gold Coast doctor Mohamed Haneef is the shadow it has cast over otherwise worthy attempts to promote cultural harmony within Australia. The introduction of a test that asks intending citizens to affirm their support for common Australian values and attempt to learn the English language is a case in point.Fresh from detaining, shaming and then releasing Dr Haneef, while maintaining public suspicions about his innocence, Mr Andrews has used an address to the Sydney Institute to declare that migrants who fail to show willingness to integrate into Australian society will be denied a permanent visa and face being sent back to their home country. Specially trained officers will evaluate migrants’ attitudes towards learning English and integrating when assessing their applications for permanent residency.So close to the federal election, when combined with recent comments by government ministers clearly designed to play to nationalistic passions, it is not difficult to see what is going on. The telltale comments include Foreign Minister Alexander Downer’s reference to not grovelling in the dirt to apologise to Dr Haneef and Mr Andrews’ assessment that Dr Haneef’s decision to leave the country heightened suspicions about him or that the doctor had shown disrespect by talking to the media in India but not Australia. Reaching for the stick to bolster the citizenship test, which has so far enjoyed near universal support, can be seen in the same context.
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,22173468-16741,00.htmlJudge’s fury at terror ‘surrender’
Michael Kirby has unleashed a scathing attack on his High Court colleagues for siding with the Howard Government on terror laws, declaring the exceptional powers threaten to do more damage to the nation than any terrorist acts on Australian soil.In a dissenting judgment arguing against continued monitoring of a terror suspect awaiting trial, Justice Kirby branded the willingness of a majority of the High Court to depart from a traditional interpretation of the Constitution’s defence powers a “mistake” that would be viewed with “regret and embarrassment” by future generations.
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Yesterday’s verdict is the first time the High Court has condoned an extension of the power of the state outside a time of war, and reflects an acceptance by the majority bench of extraordinary government powers to combat what the commonwealth described as a “new and evil” threat to Western civilisation.
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,22180818-601,00.htmlAnd in another ongoing case:
Court allows Thomas control order
The High Court of Australia ruled it was constitutionally valid for the federal government to impose a control order on a man, Jack Thomas – known as Jihad Jack – who was cleared of terror charges but judged to still pose a potential terrorist threat.
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The control order imposed conditions which include a midnight to
5am curfew, reporting to police three times a week, and prohibitions from contacting particular individuals and from using certain communications technology.
http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2007/08/02/1185648021638.html