Last Updated: Sunday, 26 February 2006, 05:52 GMT E-mail this to a friend Printable version 'Jihad Jack' guilty in Melbourne Police have detained 24 men under Australian anti-terror laws An Australian man, who changed his name to Jihad Jack, has been convicted of receiving funds from al-Qaeda. Jack Thomas, a Muslim convert, was found guilty of accepting a $3,500 (£2,000) from an al-Qaeda agent in Pakistan and a plane ticket home. A Melbourne court heard that Thomas had visited al-Qaeda camps in Afghanistan shortly before the 9/11 attacks. He is the first Australian to be charged under laws on the funding of terrorism passed in 2002. 'No terrorist' The 32-year-old former taxi driver could face up to 25 years in jail when he is sentenced by the Supreme Court in the next few days. He was also found guilty of possessing a false passport, but he was found not guilty of intentionally providing resources for al-Qaeda. The prosecution alleged that Thomas, who had changed his name by deed poll, trained in al-Qaeda bases in Afghanistan before moving to Pakistan. Thomas, who is married and has three children, was arrested in November 2004 upon his return to Australia. He says he accepted the money and plane ticket because he wanted to return home and had no intention of becoming an al-Qaeda operative. Despite the conviction, his lawyers were pleased he was acquitted of the more serious charges relating to supporting a terrorist organisation. "As we have always known, Jack had nothing to answer for with these charges," said his father, Ian. Thomas is one of 24 men charged under anti-terror legislation introduced in Australia in the wake of the 11 September 2001 attacks. ***** "convicted of receiving funds from al-Qaeda. " A possible 25years for recieving money from a bunch of nuts, is that not extreme in its self. Christ anybody can pretend to be a suicidal nut, to extract money out of these loonies, was he in possession of bombs, or getting ready to assassinate john howard, if not 25 years in my view is way over the top. I am sure a couple of months of hypotism could get all this islamic militancy crap out of his head, sure he is weak minded, or else he would not have fell for this crock of shit in the first place, that in its self would make him a good subject for hypnotism. "married and has three children" This guy has had a mental break nothing more, he needs mental help, and not locked up in a state jail for the rest of his life. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/4717604.stm Christ we have had our loonies in the uk too Who could forget Michael Fagan's audacity in getting into the Queen's bedroom in Buckingham Palace in 1982? Barefooted and wearing a t-shirt, the unemployed father-of-four shinned up a drainpipe, evaded electronic alarms and police guards, then disturbed the Queen. They spoke for 10 minutes before the Queen raised the alarm, when Mr Fagan asked her to get him a cigarette. He was not charged with trespassing because it was then only a civil offence. In 1989, Michael Crook walked past palace guards and tried to talk to the Queen near the stables. And in 1994, a naked paraglider landed on the roof of Buckingham Palace. ** I mean come on we have loonies sitting down on the queens bed, chatting about sexy underwear, then the cheeky fuck asked her to get him a cigarette, he could have killed our head of state, and he gets a cup of tea at the police station, and free tickets for the royal opera. "naked paraglider landed on the roof of Buckingham Palace" what does he get, not even a prison jump suit to wear thats what. Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! Batman storms buckingham palace, and we dont even put the battcuffs on him, and mean riddle me that. This is a british stiff upper lip thing in oz, sure he needs mental help, but longterm jail no.
geoff i disagree here sure he is a loon, but he is white, he was not breast feeded islam everyday like muslims, he was not born into a muslim family, he got brain washed somewhere along the line, muslim friends or a long working holiday in the middle east, i have spent time in egypt christ they have the call to prayer waking you up at about 4am or 6am in the morning every damn day, no wonder there mind breaks down, if i stayed there for a long time, i would crack too, and no doubt be strapping dynamite up my ass. This is all about mind control geoff, i am sure the guy can be saved, if he see's a hypnotist for a year at least in jail, with true muslims it would take years and years of seeing a hypnotist, to break the mind control.
That guy changed his name to "Jihad Jack"? Gee, how subtle, lol. Funny story about Batman too, heh. - N
This story I have been following on and off for some time he seems a genuine sort of bloke , in fact he was interviewed , a little gullible thats it .The Australian goverment is attempting to create an aura of fear through hype so that the public will believe in some AlQaeda invasion fantasy . This gives our superfluos anti-terror legislation avalid excuse to exist . The fact is the only people being arrested by the police under the anti-terror legislation are pimpled faced teenagers with a twitch . Its fucking ridiculous as Indonesian war criminals freely enter Australia as they please . The public have seen through this charade , Id sayb these anti-terror laws arent long for the book .
Well i think they are certainly extreme if this guy goes to jail for 25years, his crimes do not warrant a 25 year jail sentence, sure he is a bit light headed as far as brains are concerned, but if we went around locking up everybody who is having a mental breakdown for life, the entire worlds population would be locked up at some stage. Murder warrants 25 years or more in jail, plotting or training in terroist camps does not. We need some sense of reality here, christ we let kiddy sex offenders out of jail after 6 months served, yet we want to put a man to jail for 25years for plotting, what is this guy faulkes all over again.
