Jack Thomas cleared of terrorism charge

Melbourne man Jack Thomas has won a five-year legal battle to clear his name on terrorism charges after being found not guilty of receiving funds from al-Qaeda. Thomas, 35, mouthed "thank you", in the direction of the jury as they delivered their verdict on Thursday.
He later dived through a gap in the dock to embrace his crying wife and family. But the legal battle for the man once known as "Jihad Jack" is not over.

The Victorian Supreme Court jury found Thomas guilty of possessing a falsified passport by altering the visa for Afghanistan inside the passport. He was released on bail and will appear in court on Wednesday for a pre-sentence hearing.

In the meantime, Thomas can continue his job as a milkman on a round that includes delivering to the Melbourne prosecutors' office.
Outside court, Thomas and his family stood behind his lawyer Jim Kennan SC, who spoke on their behalf. "He has now been acquitted of all terrorist-related charges and obviously that is a matter of great satisfaction to him and to those of us who represented him," Mr
Kennan told reporters. "I argued legally that the Court of Appeal should not have ordered a retrial in the first place, those arguments were rejected."

Thomas was retried on two charges for which he was originally convicted on February 26, 2006. However, those convictions were subsequently quashed by the Court of Appeal on August 18 the same year.
But after interviews Thomas gave to the ABC Four Corners program and The Age
newspaper were broadcast and published, prosecutors sought and were granted a
retrial in December 2006.
Rob Stary, whose law firm has represented Thomas since his arrest, called for an
inquiry into the conduct of the Australian Federal Police (AFP) and Commonwealth
Director of Prosecutions (CDPP) in pursuing Thomas.
"Into why they pursued him in the way that they did, there was never enough evidence
to convict him on any of these terrorism offences," Mr Stary said.
"Someone has got to say who is pushing these prosecutions and for what purpose and
how much money is being poured down the drain pursuing these people."
A spokeswoman for the CDPP refused to comment.
The Australian Federal Police did not return calls.
During the seven-day trial, prosecutors alleged Thomas accepted $US3,500 ($A5,000)
and a plane ticket to Australia from al-Qaeda operative Khaled bin Attash in
Pakistan between November 2002 and January 2003.
Bin Attash allegedly approached Thomas claiming to have a message from Osama bin
Laden that the terrorist leader wanted a "white boy" to work for him in Australia.
Bin Attash said he could offer $US10,000 ($A14,438) immediately to anyone willing to
carry out an attack.
Thomas, from Werribee, travelled to Afghanistan in March 2001, originally with his
wife and child, to train with the Taliban to fight in the civil war.
He ended up at an al-Qaeda camp which bin Laden visited three times.
Most of the evidence put before the trial came from interviews Thomas gave ABC
journalist Sally Neighbour in 2005, and Fairfax journalist Ian Munro in early 2006.
Prosecutor Nicholas Robinson SC said it was clear Thomas had accepted the funds and
ticket from an al-Qaeda member.
But Thomas said he had received the material from Pakistanis sympathetic to the
Taliban and bin Attash had "hijacked" the situation, pretending the items were a
gift from him.
Mr Kennan had said the Crown had not provided any evidence of a money trail, nor had
it shown bin Attash was linked to al-Qaeda.
The maximum penalty for possessing a falsified passport is two years prison.