A University of New South Wales (UNSW) employee who spent a month in prison after being charged with a terrorism offence has had the case against him dropped and plans to file a lawsuit in the Supreme Court over his “unforgivable” treatment.
Mohamed Kamer Nilar Nizamdeen, 25, a Sri Lankan PhD student and UNSW employee living in Sydney, was charged on Aug. 30 with making a document connected with the preparation for a terrorist attack.
Police alleged that a colleague of Nizamdeen’s had found a notebook containing details of terror plots involving iconic landmarks and prominent Australian people.
But Nizamdeen was released on bail on Sept. 27 after a handwriting expert found inconclusive results in tests to link him to the notebook. His lawyer labelled the police case “hopeless” after the bail hearing.
The charges were formally dropped in Central Local Court on Friday morning.
Outside court, Nizamdeen’s lawyer Moustafa Kheir said he would be “seeking justice” for his client via legal action in the New South Wales Supreme Court.
“What authorities have done to this young man is absolutely unforgivable,” Kheir said.
“It’s a terrible experience, as a young man who has done everything right in life. He has gone through Supermax jail. Unforgivable circumstances.”
At a police press conference on Friday afternoon, NSW Police assistant commissioner Michael Willing and Australian Federal Police assistant commissioner Ian McCartney declined to apologise to Nizamdeen, saying the investigation was ongoing.
"At this stage based on the evidence we have got it is likely he did not write those comments in the notebook, but there are still a number of questions we have to have answered in relation to the investigation," McCartney said.
McCartney added that police "believed we had enough evidence at that time" to arrest Nizamdeen and said that police had acted in "good faith" at all time.
"As soon as we became aware [of] issues of concern in relation to the evidence that existed, we directly contacted the director of public prosecutions," he said. "And we were quick to resolve some of those issues."
Willing said the delay between the arrest and the charge being dropped was due to the time it takes for forensic analysis to be carried out.
The matter will return to the Local Court in November for a costs hearing.