Western Resistance

« Opinion: The 'Religion of Peace' for Inquisitive Minds | | Saudi Arabia: Five Suspected Islamists Shot Dead »

February 27, 2006

Australia: Muslim Convert, "Jihad Jack" Convicted

Pictured at left is Joseph Terrence Thomas, aged 32, a former Melbourne taxi driver and Muslim convert, who went on trial last year at Melbourne magistrates, accused of receiving funds from al Qaeda. He was accused of gaining money from the terror group, and providing resources in 2002 and 2003.

Thomas, known to the Australian press as "Jihad Jack" had spent two years in Pakistan and Afghanistan. Details of these escursions were initially held in a closed court, as magistrate Lisa Hannan ruled that it was "in the interests of national security" to hear this evidence in camera.

Thomas had claimed that while he was in Pakistan, he was placed in detention for five months in 2003 after being arrested in Karachi in June, and mistreated and threatened with harm while being interrogated by an American official known only as "Joe". Joe had threatened to crush Jack's testicles in a vice, and said that he could have his wife in Australia harmed, by having her breasts placed in a vice.

Jihad Jack made these allegations to Australian Federal Police (AFP) at the time, but has since added claims that he was told his wife Maryati would be raped, and that he could be detained indefinitely or killed, by his Pakistani and US interrogators. He also claimed a hood was placed over his head at one stage, and he was strangled.

Now, according to the Age, Joseph Terrence Thomas has been found guilty yesterday (Sunday 26) of receiving money from al-Qaeda. He is the first to be convicted under new anti-terror legislation.

On the charges of providing resources to al-Qaeda, the jury at the Supreme Court found him not guilty. He was said to have agreed to have acted as a "sleeper agent", ready to be activated, but the jury did not convict. However, on charges of receiving funds, he could spend up to 25 years in jail.

His lawyers announced that they would be appealing the decision, as an interview given to AFP had happened after he had been tortured, and it is further assumed they will claim that he did not have proper access to a lawyer at the interview with AFP.

He was upset and tearful when he came into the court, and bizarrely wanted his five-year old daughter Amatullah to be there. When his verdict was announced he showed no emotion.

He told the Age earlier that he had traveled to Afghanistan with the intention of seeing an Islamic state in practice, and had intended to fight for the Taliban, but had instead agreed to work for al-Qaeda.

He admitted tampering with a Taliban-issued visa on his passport to disguise the time he had spent in Afghanistan. He had been given $3,500 (US) to fly back to Australia by an al-Qaeda member, one Khaled bin Attash. Attash is believed to have been involved in the attack against USS Cole in Aden in 2000. Attash was apprehended by Pakistani authorities in May 2003.

Jihad Jack's wife is Indonesian, and he has three daughters in all. He is of Irish-Australian stock. His mother Patsy, a geriatrics nurse, pictured above, said her son had always been exploring religion, according to South Africa's Sunday Times.

At the age of 13, he took up ballet lessons, and later was part of a punk band called The Lobotomy Scars

He was raised as an Anglican, and had explored Buddhism before his conversion. He had his name changed by deed poll to "Jihad" before going intitially to Afghanistan in 2001.

Jihad Jack claims to have suffered post-traumatic stress disorder. He said to the Age in an interview conducted before the verdict: "I might be naive and I might be an idealist, but I am not a dickhead who will help to hurt innocent people."

The Age provides an in-depth article by Ian Munro on the background to the case. Khaled bin Attash had suggested Jihad Jack could become involved in an attack upon Australia, saying in 2002: "Osama bin Laden wants a white boy." Attash had said he had $10,000 for anyone taking part in a terror attack.

In Afghanistan, Jihad was trained at the al-Farooq training camp, and had briefly fought "on the front line" for a week or so. Though he sported a beard at pre-trial hearings, he had appeared during the court hearings clean-shaven.

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at February 27, 2006 7:10 AM

Comments

Post a comment