Embassy bomb plotter released from Australian jail

Source: Reuters

Embassy bomb plotter released from Australian jail
Thu May 17, 2007 12:56AM EDT

CANBERRA (Reuters) - A British-born man, convicted of plotting with
al Qaeda to blow up the Israeli Embassy in Australia, was released from
prison early on Thursday after serving about half his nine-year sentence.

Jack Roche, 53, pleaded guilty to terrorism charges in 2004, becoming
the first person convicted under tougher Australian anti-terrorism laws
introduced in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 airliner attacks
on the United States. He was released after four-and-a-half years from
a maximum security prison in the Western Australian capital of Perth,
and taken to his suburban home in a waiting taxi.

"I'm glad to be out. At the advice of my lawyer, I'm not going to make
any further comment. Thank you," Roche, an Australian citizen, told
media outside his Perth home.

-snip-

At his trial, the court was told that Roche, who converted to Islam in
the early 1990s, traveled to Afghanistan where he received explosives
training with the al Qaeda militant network and met its leader, Osama
bin Laden.

-snip-

Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUSSYD9700520070517