An Australian court on Thursday reserved judgement on Muhammed Haneef’s bid to get back his visa until August 21 after terror charges against the Indian doctor over the foiled terror plot in the UK were dropped.

Judge Jeffery Spender of the Federal Court in Brisbane said that he expected to hand down his decision on Haneef’s appeal against Immigration Minister Kevin Andrews’ controversial decision to revoke his work visa,  on August 21.

When Haneef was granted bail by a court, Andrews revoked his visa and refused to restore it even after the charges were finally dropped.

Andrews had cancelled the visa saying Haneef had failed the character test provided by immigration laws because he had an association with people suspected of criminal activity, namely his second cousins Sabeel and Kafeel Ahmed. Haneef,  returned to India proclaiming his innocence and his desire to get back his visa and job.

Lawyers argue
His lawyers argued that the doctor should not have failed a “character test” because he was related to men allegedly involved in the attempted attacks in Glasgow. The lawyers argued it was no more than an “innocent association” and not a valid reason to cancel his visa.