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| Down Under |
| Thomas was ordered to survey Australian military sites |
| 2006-02-17 |
| A Melbourne court has been told a Victorian man accused of terrorism offences was asked to work for Osama Bin Laden after a discussion about bringing down the Australian Government. The Victorian Supreme Court has been played an Australian Federal Police interview with 32-year-old Joseph Terrence Thomas of Werribee. Thomas told the police he did not know the Al Farouk training camp he attended in Afghanistan was connected to Al Qaeda until he saw Osama bin Laden there. He told the police he was hurt and angry when an Al Qaeda member told him he thought an attack like the Nairobi Embassy bombings would bring down the Australian Government. He said he was then offered money and a ticket home and told bin Laden wanted someone to look at the locations of military installations in Australia. Thomas said he never intended to work for Al Qaeda and many people were being given tickets to get home to their families. Thomas is charged with receiving funds from and providing resources to Al Qaeda. Earlier, an American prisoner gave evidence via a video link from the United States. Wahya Goba told the court he travelled from New York to Pakistan and then on to Al Qaeda's Al Farouk training camp in Afghanistan in May 2001. He told the court that before going to the camp he was shown a video narrated by Osama Bin Laden about the bombing of the US destroyer USS Cole off the Port of Yemen. He said it was shown as the solution to the atrocities and problems in the Muslim world. |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |