November 12, 2007,
Sydney Morning Herald:
A high profile terror case was abandoned before it got to trial today after a judge found that two ASIO officers had kidnapped and falsely imprisoned a young medical student, Izhar ul-Haque.
Mr ul-Haque's lawyer, Adam Houda, later accused authorities of launching a politically motivated and "moronic prosecution" against his client.
In a scathing judgment, NSW Supreme Court Justice Michael Adams found that two ASIO officers had broken the law in a deliberate attempt to coerce answers from Mr ul-Haque.
"I am satisfied that B15 and B16 [the ASIO officers] committed the criminal offences of false imprisonment and kidnapping at common law and also an offence under section 86 of the Crimes Act," the judge said.
He said this misconduct meant subsequent police records of interview with Mr ul-Haque were inadmissible as evidence.
The judge's findings forced the Crown to withdraw its case against Mr ul-Haque, just before a trial jury was to be empanelled.
Mr ul-Haque had faced charges of training with the Pakistan-based terrorist group, Lashkar-e-Toiba since April 2004.
He was accused of receiving weapons and combat training from the organisation during a visit to Pakistan in January and February 2003 ...
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