ABC News- Ausralia
Melbourne / Bangalore, Jul 10: The lawyer for Gold Coast-based doctor Mohammed Haneef says a legal loophole could see his client held indefinitely by the Australian Federal Police (AFP) for questioning over alleged links to terrorism.
Under current laws, Dr Haneef can only be held for 24 hours, but the legislation does not specify how long he can be held on "down time".
"Down time" is time spent in custody without questioning while police carry out their investigation.
Lawyer Peter Russo says his client is also not allowed to make an application for bail.
"Even people charged with serious offences have the right to make a bail application, there's no provision within the act for similar type of applications to be made," he said.
"There's no sort of safety net."
Russo says he is starting to worry about his client's mental health.
"It's in everybody's interest that the investigation is carried out, but it's also in everybody's interest that it gets carried out in a timely fashion."
Meanwhile, civil libertarians say Dr Haneef's lawyer should be allowed access to evidence against him.
President of the Queensland Council for Civil Liberties, Michael Cope, says Dr Haneef's lawyer needs to be told the nature of the case against him.
"It's impossible for him to have a fair hearing before the magistrate on whether he should continue to be detained unless his lawyer has knowledge of the case which is being made against him," he said.
"At the present time, the magistrate is presumably only getting half the case - he's just getting the police version."
Dr Haneef has not spoken to his India-based family since he was taken into police custody in Brisbane more than a week ago.
Russo says he made contact with Dr Haneef's family last night.
"There seems to be a whole other range of social and cultural issues that have arisen because of his detention," he said.
"I think that some of the media attention over there, perhaps some of the media aren't as polite as the Australian media."
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