An Australian terrorism suspect on Monday lost his bid to avoid a retrial on charges that he received money from al-Qaida.
Joseph Thomas, a 35-year-old Muslim convert dubbed "Jihad Jack" by the Australian media, was sentenced in March 2006 to five years in prison for intentionally receiving funds from a terrorist organization and holding a false passport.
An appeals court overturned those convictions five months later, saying information Thomas gave to Australian police after his 2003 arrest in Pakistan was inadmissible.
Thomas' lawyers had argued that the police interview process was tainted because he had been threatened with execution and deportation to the U.S. military base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, in earlier questioning by U.S. and Pakistani authorities.
But in interviews broadcast after his conviction, Thomas gave similar information that prosecutors are now seeking to rely on in a retrial.
Three judges of the Victoria state Court of Appeals ruled against Thomas' efforts to block them on Monday.
No date for the retrial was set.
Thomas did not appear in court when the decision was handed down. His mother and brother left the court without speaking to reporters.
Thomas told the Australian Broadcasting Corp. that he met Osama bin Laden several times in the lead up to the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in the United States. In interviews broadcast in 2006, he described the al-Qaida leader as a "very polite and humble and shy" man who did not mind being hugged.
Since returning to Australia, Thomas has renounced violence and denies being involved in any terrorism plot.
The government considers Thomas to still be a threat to national security, and he is subject to a control order imposed under Australia's strict counterterrorism laws that restricts his movement and requires him to report regularly to police.
