Jury clears Jack Thomas of terrorism charge

* Nobody is guilty of anything: imagine the “injustice” if ‘Jihad Jack’ had been  sentenced while Hicks got off scott-free, the ummah might have declared a-(nother)  jihad on Australia and the nutroots would have gone apes#*t…

Its cool to be a terrorist!

• Kate Hagan/The Age
• October 23, 2008 – 2:38PM

Melbourne man Jack Thomas has been found not guilty of intentionally receiving funds from al-Qaeda.

But Thomas, 35, was found guilty of possessing a falsified passport.

– Week-long trial
– Guilty on passport charge
– Emotional after verdict

The 12-member Victorian Supreme Court jury reached their verdict after two days of deliberation.
 
After the verdict was read out, an emotional Thomas climbed out of the dock to hug his crying hijabbed Muslim wife and mother.

10 million dollars later:

* Update: Australian Federal Police have defended a decision to arrest Indian doctor Mohamed Haneef, on a terrorism-related charge which was later dropped. 

 

Thomas, who had pleaded not guilty to the charges, smiled and mouthed “thank you” in the jury’s direction.

During the week-long trial, the court heard Thomas admitted taking a plane ticket and $US3500 cash from senior al-Qaeda figure Khaled bin Attash in Pakistan, during interviews with The Age and the ABC’s Four Corners.

The court heard Thomas told Four Corners that he had his passport altered to remove a Taliban visa, which he regarded as “a one-way ticket to Guantanamo Bay” following the September 11 attacks on New York’s World Trade Centre.

Thomas had travelled to Afghanistan in a bid to help the Taliban in its civil war against the Northern Alliance, and spent three months in a military training camp controlled by Osama bin Laden.

He told Age journalist Ian Munro that he believed bin Attash had “hijacked the situation” by presenting money and tickets that had already been arranged by Pakistani well-wishers.

Police submit motive behind doctor’s Australian arrest

Updated October 23, 2008 22:16:16

Australian Federal Police have defended a decision to arrest Indian doctor Mohamed Haneef, on a terrorism-related charge which was later dropped.  

The Clarke Inquiry is investigating why Dr Haneef was charged in relation to a terrorism plot in the UK last year and why the case against him collapsed. 

In its public submission to the inquiry, the AFP says counter-terrorism laws were appropriately applied. 

The agency says officers carefully weighed up the evidence against Dr Haneef and were satisfied that there was sufficient reason to arrest and detain him. 

It admits that the investigation was not perfect, but says officers involved were motivated by the need to protect the Australian public and the nation’s interests. 

The AFP says the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions played a fundamental role in its decision to charge Dr Haneef.

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• australia
• india