Jack Roche (ABC Television News)
Another convert who somehow missed the Qur’an’s counsels of peace and tolerance. From Breakingnews.ie, :
A British-born Muslim convert was recruited by al-Qaida for a plan to blow up the Israeli embassy in Canberra with a lorry bomb, prosecutors said today on the opening day of the man’s trial.
Jack Roche (aged 50) was told by senior officials in Osama bin Laden’s terror network to form a terror cell in Australia to carry out the plot, prosecutor Ron Davies told Perth District Court. The bombing was never carried out.
Roche has pleaded not guilty to one charge of conspiring to damage the Israeli embassy by means of explosives, and as a consequence harm diplomatic staff. He faces a maximum sentence of 25 years if convicted.
Prosecutors told the jury Roche travelled to Afghanistan to meet with senior figures from the terrorist organisation — including bin Laden — in March 2000.