A legal regulatory body on Friday cleared a lawyer of Mohammed Haneef of professional misconduct charges for leaking to the media a transcript of the Indian doctor's police interview, saying his actions were justified under the extraordinary circumstances of the case.
Stephen Keim, who successfully defended Haneef last year after he was wrongly accused of terror charges by Australian authorities in connection with the failed UK car-bomb plot, was cleared of any disciplinary action by Queensland's Legal Services Commission.
It was decided that his actions in providing The Australian newspaper with a police transcript of the interview were justified under the extraordinary circumstances of the case and that there would be no further investigation.
Keim expressed his happiness over the outcome and said, "It's good news. The fact that the complaint is not proceeding is an indication that there was no professional misconduct.
However, I don't want anyone describing my experience as an ordeal. The only people who experienced an ordeal were Dr Haneef and his family," the lawyer said after the ruling by the commission, which has the power to initiate action that could have led him to lose his right to practise law.
The commission had received separate complaints from Australian Federal Police Commissioner Mick Keelty, and a Brisbane solicitor Russell Biddle over Keim's conduct.
Publication of the sensitive document in the newspaper had revealed that the evidence against Haneef had been threadbare and that false statements had been made about him and attributed to him.
Haneef was arrested on July 2, 2007, and 12 days later charged with supporting terrorism after his his SIM card was found with the alleged Glasgow bombers.
The charges were dropped a fortnight later, but his work visa was cancelled and he was forced to return to Bangalore.
While the new Labour government led by Kevin Rudd has announced a judicial inquiry into the episode, the Australian federal court has already restored the 27-year-old's visa.
The commission found that there had been a technical breach of one of the rules relating to the conduct of barristers, but that the circumstances were such that Keim should not be punished for his actions in exposing the truth, The Australian reported.
Meanwhile, Police Chief Mick Keelty has recently come under fire after he launched a scathing attack on the Australian media and asked it to censor itself in terrorism cases.
Prime Minister Rudd has rejected Keelty's statement and said that media's scrutiny and reporting of the Haneef case was in the national interest.
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