An Australian terrorism suspect whose conviction was overturned in 2006 was ordered to stand trial again yesterday for allegedly receiving money from al-Qaeda and possessing a false passport.
The Victoria state Court of Appeal ordered the retrial after prosecutors said they had new evidence about former Melbourne taxi driver Jack Thomas’ alleged links to al-Qaeda.
Thomas, a Muslim convert, received a five-year jail term in February 2006 after being convicted of accepting US$3,500 in cash and an air ticket home from a senior al-Qaeda operative in Pakistan.
Prosecutors had alleged that the 35-year-old trained at al-Qaeda bases in Afghanistan before its Sept. 11 attacks on the US and then stayed in safe houses frequented by al-Qaeda operatives after moving to Pakistan in 2002.
But the conviction was quashed six months later when an appeal court ruled that an interview carried out by Australian police while he was in custody in Pakistan was inadmissible.
Prosecutorsy sought a retrial, arguing that an interview Thomas gave to public broadcaster the Australian Broadcasting Corp (ABC) amounted to new evidence in the case. Thomas’ lawyers argued that investigators knew about the ABC interview before the first trial and it did not warrant a retrial, but the appeal court rejected the argument.
Thomas’ defense told the original trial that he accepted the money and ticket simply because he wanted to return to his family.
He reportedly told the ABC in an interview aired in February 2006 that he met al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden three times at a base in Afghanistan.
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