'Former terror suspect' label makes me feel bad: Haneef

The Indian doctor Mohamed Haneef says he will be "grateful" if Canberra considers paying him damages for his ordeal.

Indian doctor Mohamed Haneef, wrongly accused of involvement in the failed UK car bombings, has expressed disappointment over the Australian media labelling him as a "former terror suspect" and said he would be "grateful" if Canberra considers paying him damages for his ordeal.

HT Image

"This label makes me feel bad. It's not true - I had nothing to do with terror," Haneef, 28, said in a yet to be published interview to Bulletin magazine.

He said the label was continuing to muddy his name and professional standing, six months after the charge of providing support to terrorism against him was dropped.

"While I should be grateful to the Australian media for their incessant support, it's up to the media to get back with the normalcy of deleting these things whenever they refer to me and this topic," he was quoted as saying.

Bangalore-based Haneef, who until last July worked as a junior doctor at the Gold Coast Hospital, also said he was reluctant to return to work in Australia until federal police declared their investigations into him complete.

The Indian doctor said he would "be grateful" if the Australian government would consider paying him compensation for his ordeal, but believed no money would compensate for the damage to his name.

"I've lost everything," he said. "I've lost my job, my career. Any western country I would like to go to do my further studies, there would be a question, I would say, about this issue," he said.