A doctor held on terror charges in Australia says he is delighted to be free.

Mohamed Haneef was suspected of being linked to the failed car bombings in London and Glasgow but he was released and charges have been dropped.

The 27-year-old left Brisbane to head for Bangalore in southern India to be reunited with his family.

Mr Haneef said: "I never imagined, even in the remotest corner of my brain, that I would be labelled with such a defaming thing."

When asked if he was a terrorist, Haneef said: "No, it's not in my nature to ever support or to be involved in such activities at all."

Lawyer Peter Russo travelled with Mr Haneef and insisted his client has not been deported.

However, it was not clear who paid for the flights and Mr Russo said Mr Haneef will appeal against a decision to revoke his work visa on character grounds at a court hearing in August.

It was decided the withdrawal of the terrorism charge did not change the evidence that led to the revocation of his Australian work visa.

There have been mounting calls in Australia for the doctor to be allowed back to work, and the Gold Coast Hospital where he was working has said Haneef's job is waiting for him if he regains the visa.

Mr Haneef was arrested at Brisbane airport on July 2 as he was about to fly to India to see his wife and newborn daughter, days after his second cousins in Britain were arrested in a failed terror plot.

Australia's chief prosecutor Damian Bugg said evidence did not support the charge that Mr Haneef provided reckless support to a terrorist organisation by giving his mobile phone Sim card to one of his cousins when he left Britain for Australia a year earlier.