A day after Australia made fresh allegations that Bangalorean doctor Mohammed Haneef could have had prior knowledge of the foiled terror attacks in UK, the man in question chose not to react directly to the charges.

 Addressing reporters on Wednesday, a visibly ill-at-ease Haneef dodged questions on the charges made by Australian Minister for Immigration and Citizenship Kevin Andrews and Australian Federal Police chief Mick Keelty.
Australian officials have maintained that transcripts of the online chat between Haneef and his brother Shoaib, prior to Haneef’s detention in Brisbane, suggested that the former Gold Coast Hospital doctor knew about the attacks.

When asked what Shoaib meant when he said “they haven’t found out anything about you” during the chat, Haneef said his brother was referring to the news on the attacks, that had appeared on the BBC website.

“These are only a few lines from the transcript... if you see the complete chat, you’ll understand,” Haneef said.
He added that he had already answered questions from AFP about his alleged knowledge of the attacks.

Questions about his “hurried” exit from Australia and a dossier linking him with al-Qaeda that Bangalore police had reportedly been passed on to AFP, were also responded to with the no-comments refrain. Imran Siddiqui, cousin of Haneef’s wife Firdous Arshiya, said Haneef’s lawyers had advised against direct statements about the charges, because the charges would also come up as part of the hearing of the visa cancellation case on August 8.

Siddiqui reiterated that charges derived from the online chat were based on circumstantial evidence.
“This is not classified information. We had requested for the complete transcript of AFP’s second interview with Haneef. Even after 15 days, we haven’t got it,” he said. 

Siddiqui added that Haneef’s lawyers had filed another affidavit on Wednesday seeking the transcript. Haneef’s lawyer Peter Russo is in Mysore and would respond to charges made by the Australian officials, Siddiqui said.