An Australian at a rally to support Haneef. (File picture)

Melbourne, July 28: Australian immigration minister Kevin Andrews appears to be emerging the villain in the botched handling of Mohammed Haneef’s case which now threatens to hurt the government politically.

A day after the case collapsed in court, over 68 per cent of Australians have voted against the government on the issue in a poll conducted by TV channel Sky News.

Even the Australian Federal Police, which had egg on its face after prosecutors admitted two errors of fact, is “privately angry with” Andrews for his “mishandling” of the case, The Australian reported today.

The police, who have remained unapologetic, believe “the decision by Mr Andrews last week to revoke Dr Haneef’s visa both complicated and inflamed the now-collapsed case”, the newspaper added.

Andrews had cancelled Haneef’s visa and ordered him detained under immigration laws within hours of a court granting him bail on July 16, provoking allegations that he was undermining the justice system.

The Weekend newspaper said the minister appeared to have misused his power to appear tough on terrorists months before a national election.

“Andrews is slowly recognising the serious mistake he made,” it said, suggesting his decisions were based on “political reasons”.

Andrews’s decision today not to revoke the cancellation of Haneef’s work visa — though he allowed the Indian to leave Australia and returned his passport — came in for stick from Haneef’s lawyers Peter Russo and Stephen Keim.

“It’s frustrating that the minister can’t seem to be able to make a decision that everybody else in Australia has been able to come to,” Russo said.

“We’re stunned,” said Keim. “We can’t understand how a man who has been locked up in prison for nearly a month on groundless reasons could continue to have his good name smeared.

“With the visa cancelled, it could have serious downstream effects on his work and travel. It is of paramount interest for Haneef to have an unblemished record.”

Andrews, however, said much less evidence is required to cancel a work visa than to make terrorism charges stick.

Queensland Premier Peter Beattie, who has accused Andrews of political interference in the case, praised Keim for leaking the record of Haneef’s police interview that showed up the flimsiness of the case against him.

“I hope people in Australia remember this because it shows you people have got to be able to get up and express a view without having their head shot off,” he told The Weekend.