Haneef's drama gets played up

Melbourne: Indian doctor Mohamed Haneef, who was wrongly implicated by the Australian Federal Police, will be dramatised in a play to be staged in Melbourne on February 22-23.

The Drum Theatre in the outer southeastern suburb of Dandenong will host the premiere of “Haneef: The Interrogation”.

The two-man play is based on edited transcripts from the interrogation of Dr Haneef, who was last year arrested under new anti-terrorism laws.

The play will attempt to draw the audience through the range of conflicting emotions experienced by those involved, in particular, Dr Haneef.

“You will feel very strongly that Dr Haneef was denied his civil liberties, yet feel equally strongly that innocence or guilt are ambiguous,” the play’s promotional material reads.

Writer Graham Pitts said that he was driven to create the play because he felt the Haneef case highlighted a culture of fear cultivated by new anti-terrorism laws.

"I thought, I've had enough of this. I felt a real resentment of anti-terrorism laws that had been passed by this country," Pitts said.

He said the play was based entirely on the transcripts of Dr Haneef's interrogation.

He admitted that the play would contribute to the media spotlight on Dr Haneef, but said "only in a way that I think he will appreciate".

"It certainly doesn't label him as a terrorism suspect," news.com.au quoted Pitts, as saying.

Dr Haneef said this week he was tired of being referred to as a "former terror suspect", and appealed to the Australian media to stop using the description.

In an interview with The Bulletin magazine this week, Dr Haneef said the label was continuing to muddy his name and professional standing, six months after a charge of providing support to terrorism was dropped.

Dr Haneef was arrested on July 2 last year and 12 days later charged with supporting a terrorism organisation after his SIM card was linked to the failed Glasgow Airport bombings in 2007.

The charges were dropped a fortnight later but then-immigration minister Kevin Andrews had already cancelled Dr Haneef's work visa, forcing him to return to his home in Bangalore.

The full bench of the Federal Court last month upheld a judge's earlier decision to reinstate his work visa, clearing the way for Dr Haneef to return to Australia.

Immigration Minister Chris Evans said last week he would not appeal against the decision.