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CANBERRA - The first man to be convicted under Australian anti-terrorism laws was on Friday ordered to face re-trial in April, eight months after an appeals court freed him.
Joseph Terrence Thomas, nicknamed "Jihad Jack" by Australian media, was jailed for five years in April 2006 on charges of receiving $A3,500 ($NZ4010) and a plane ticket from an al Qaeda agent after training with Osama bin Laden's network in Afghanistan in 2001.
But he was freed on Aug. 18 when an appeals court quashed the former taxi driver's conviction, saying an interview with Australian police in Pakistan was inadmissible evidence because it was not voluntary and Thomas had no lawyer to offer advice.
The same court in December agreed with Australia's public prosecutor that a television interview in which Thomas admitted taking money to get home could have led to conviction on both charges, ordering the 33-year-old Muslim convert face a re-trial.
The second trial in the Supreme Court of Victoria state was on Friday listed to start on April 12, a court spokeswoman said.
Thomas has pleaded not guilty to receiving funds from an Australian government-listed terrorist organisation and possessing a fake Australian passport.
Government prosecutors are expected to call two journalists as witnesses to give evidence about Thomas' interview.
Thomas has been jailed and released three times since his capture in Pakistan in 2002.
Australia, a staunch US ally, has never suffered a major peacetime attack on home soil, but tougher anti-terrorism laws were imposed after the Sept. 11, 2001, hijacked airliner attacks on the United States.
Thomas is also challenging a control order imposed on him at the request of Australia's government.
- REUTERS
