SIM not found in attack Jeep: reports

Prosecutors may have given an Australian court wrong information about Mohammad Haneef8217;s links to failed terrorist attacks in Britain...

Prosecutors may have given an Australian court wrong information about Mohammad Haneef8217;s links to failed terrorist attacks in Britain, and badly damaged their chances of a conviction, lawyers said on Friday.

Government prosecutor Clive Porritt told a magistrate last week that a mobile phone SIM card registered against Haneef8217;s name was found in a gas canister-loaded jeep that was driven into an airport entranceway in Glasgow last month. The Australian Broadcasting Corp reported on Friday that unnamed officials in Britain and Australia say the card was seized from a suspect in Liverpool, hours after the failed attack in Glasgow, not in the vehicle.

Haneef8217;s lawyer, Peter Russo, said he had not yet been able to confirm the mistake, but that it could help in his client fight the charge that he was giving support to a terrorist organisation. 8220;It8217;s an inconsistency,8221; Russo told reporters. 8220;Court cases aren8217;t won on one inconsistency. 8230; I wouldn8217;t say with any certainty that this is the ace in the pack, so to speak, but it8217;s definitely something we need to explore.8221; Other lawyers not involved in the case said the mistake, if true, could end the chances of a conviction, and that police had compounded the error by not correcting the public record. 8220;It8217;s a shocking mess up,8221; Peter Faris, a lawyer and former head of the Australian Government8217;s National Crime Authority, told the Australian Broadcasting Corp. 8220;A competent cross-examiner will cut the police to pieces. It may well be that the prosecution case will collapse.8221; 8220;You can8217;t get something that8217;s so central, so wrong,8221; he said.

Australian Federal Police Commissioner Mick Keelty would not comment on whether a mistake had been made. 8220;It8217;s not for the media to judge, it8217;s not for me to judge, it8217;s for the court to judge,8221; Keelty told reporters in Canberra, but added, 8220;I8217;d deny that the AFP8217;s been incompetent.8221;

A debate has raged in Australia and India about whether authorities have been overzealous in prosecuting Haneef under counterterror and immigration laws. Prime Minister John Howard declined to comment, saying it was a matter for the courts.