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Australian judge says Muslims still have rights

SYDNEY: A judge told Australian intelligence and police officers on Monday that a student they pursued over terrorism charges still had rights whether he was “Muslim or not.”

Prosecutors dropped the case against the student, Izharul Haq, after Judge Michael Adams ruled that police interviews with him were inadmissible due to the conduct of the officers.

Haq had been accused of receiving weapons and combat training from the Pakistan-based extremist group Lashkar-e-Tayyaba during a visit to Pakistan in 2003. Adams said that the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) officer had committed “the crime of false imprisonment and kidnapping.”Officers were also accused of unjustified violation of Haq’s personal liberty as well as unlawful trespass at his family home.

“It was a gross interference by the agents of the state with the accused’s legal rights as a citizen, rights which he still has whether he be suspected of criminal conduct or not, and whether he is Muslim or not,” Adams said.

Haq’s lawyer, Adam Houda, speaking outside the Supreme Court of the New South Wales state, condemned what he said had been a “moronic prosecution.”

Houda compared the case to that of Indian doctor Muhammad Haneef, who had his visa cancelled after he was linked to British car bombings earlier this year. Charges against Haneef were ultimately dropped. The Australian Council for Civil Liberties said the findings showed serious problems with the way ASIO operated. afp

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