On 8 March , Thomas was interviewed again by two members of the AFP , who had made special arrangements with the Pakistani Directorate for Inter-Services Intelligence ( ISI ) to have the interview conducted pursuant to Australian law , particularly the requirements of the federal '' Evidence Act 1995 '' and '' Crimes Act 1914 '' , so that admissible evidence could be gathered . ISI allowed the interview , but with a very limited timeframe , and did not allow Thomas to have access to legal advice . During this interview , Thomas made several self-incriminatory statements , which were key to his later convictions and the admissibility of which was the central issue in the appeal . In the statements , Thomas admitted that he had tampered with his passport to conceal the amount of time he had been in Pakistan , and also admitted that the money and airline ticket had been given to him by Tawfiq bin Attash , a high ranking Al Qaeda lieutenant involved with the 1998 United States embassy bombings and the USS '' Cole '' bombing . On 10 March , the AFP wrote again to the ISI , reiterating the requirements of the Australian legislation , and saying that " the admissibility of the record of interview in Australian Courts has been seriously compromised . " On 6 June 2003 , Thomas was released from Pakistani custody , at which point he was deported to Australia . He spent nearly a year and a half subsequently living with his family in the Melbourne suburb of Werribee , Victoria , before he was arrested by the AFP on 18 November 2004 and charged with several federal offences , including one count of possessing a false passport ( an offence under the '' Passports Act 1938 '' ) , and one count of receiving funds from a terrorist organisation and two counts of providing resources to a terrorist organisation ( offences under the '' Criminal Code Act 1995 '' )
1998 United States embassy bombings
1998 United States embassy bombings
R v Thomas