ABSTRACT
This is not a chapter about the theatre of the absurd. Nor is it a narrative that simply follows and recounts the twists and turns of the drama played out in the arrest, detention, charging and visa cancellation of Dr Mohamed Haneef. It is about Australia’s counter-terrorism strategy, and it is about the actors involved in constructing and operationalising that strategy, especially the Australian Federal Police (AFP), the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions (CDPP) and the Commonwealth government (led at the time by Prime Minister John Howard (Prime Minister)). It also focuses on Haneef qua terror suspect and detainee; a man held for almost two weeks before being charged with terrorism offences, and whose visa was cancelled immediately after being released on bail. The charge was later withdrawn for lack of evidence and his visa cancellation was set aside as ultra vires. The Haneef drama ultimately became the subject of a judicial inquiry which, however, failed to deal effectively with some of the more important issues and concerns raised by the case. This neat (but far from complete) recitation of the facts of the case provides enough
material for a mini-series-cum-soap-opera and even, perhaps, the emergent themes of a new sub-genre of absurdism based around the tragi-comedy of counter-terrorism that is without a foreseeable denouement. While the dramatic and theatrical aspects of the Haneef case are alternatively curious, entertaining, moving and darkly humorous, they should not be allowed to obscure the more serious and important dimensions of the case beyond Haneef’s personal ordeal. Some of these dimensions can be located in the matters not adequately investigated by the Clarke Inquiry into the Case of Dr Mohamed Haneef (Clarke Inquiry),1 but also in the more general flaws, weaknesses and shortcomings in Australia’s counter-terrorism strategy that the case revealed. This chapter begins with a brief overview of the Haneef affair focusing on the
major events as they unfolded. It then turns to consider Australia’s counter-terrorism strategy and the legislative framework underpinning that strategy, including the new terrorism-specific criminal offences, using the Haneef case to highlight important aspects of both of these. Here, the roles and performance of the AFP and the CDPP will be central concerns. The role that the media played in the case will also be a
major theme running through this discussion. Finally, the chapter will conclude with a brief analysis of the Clarke Inquiry, in particular, the recommendations that it produced.2
