Roche feared al-Qaeda

2004-05-27 11:27

Perth - A British-born Islamic convert accused of plotting to blow up the Israeli embassy in Canberra told his trial here on Thursday that he agreed to follow al-Qaeda orders to avoid being killed.

Jack Roche, 50, earlier admitted meeting with al-Qaeda leaders during a trip to Afghanistan in 2000 and said he carried out surveillance and tried unsuccessfully to recruit militants to carry out attacks in Australia.

But in his second day of testimony on Thursday, Roche said he had later been shocked to learn the identities of some of the people he had met in Afghanistan when he logged onto a website showing the US FBI's most wanted fugitives.

"I was shocked. I was really taken aback," he said, saying he recognised five or six people he had met with in Afghanistan.

"I was thinking 'this is too much - this is very, very deep'," he said.

During his trip to Afghanistan, Roche - who has admitted being a member of the Southeast Asian Islamic group Jemaah Islamiah (JI) - briefly met al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.

Bomb "never mentioned"

He then talked at length with other senior al-Qaeda members he named as Abu Hafs and Saif, saying they quizzed him about Israeli government interests in Australia, as well as prominent Melbourne Jewish businessman Joe Gutnick.

"I really had no idea where they were going with this but the cogs were starting to turn," he said.

Roche told the court a man who had acted as an interpreter later told him another man had been taken into the desert and shot after attempting to contact the US Central Intelligence Agency.

"I thought he was warning me, or trying to scare me, and it worked," Roche said.

Roche said neither Abu Hafs or Saif ever mentioned a bomb, and he "certainly" did not agree to bomb the Israeli embassy.

"I had agreed to surveil the Israeli embassy and gather information about Joe Gutnick," he said.

"I did this because of the situation I was in. It's not a place you can get up and walk out of."

Roche said he feared that if he tried to back out, "I suspected that they would kill me, whether it was someone from al-Qaeda or JI."

The court heard on Wednesday that the alleged leader of JI, Indonesian cleric Abu Bakar Bashir, eventually told him to halt all his activities in Australia following infighting between local JI militants and the group's regional operations chief, Hambali.

- SAPA