Mohammed Haneef

I loathe terrorists. They are subhuman due to their irrational behaviour, and because this behaviour threatens the human way of life and everything we represent then i believe that we should do all we can to detain terrorists and eradicate terrrorist threats. At the same time, however, when the human rights of decent men are confiscated in ridiculous circumstances, then we are no more virtuous than the terrorists. I refer specifically to the charging of Dr Mohammed Haneef with the embarrassingly LOL-worthy charge of: 'recklessly supplying a mobile phone sim card to a terrorist organisation'. A news report on the ABC website stated that: 'The offence carries a maximum penalty of 25 years in prison'. I don't want to defend Haneef's innocence without having seen a just trial, but the multiple extensions of his detention highlight both the ineptitude of the AFP and the human consequences of this ineptitude. When we, as free and democratic Australians, are forcefully detaining our own kind without trial because of the reckless use of SIM cards, then the fear-mongering terrorists have won.