PERTH, Australia, May 28 (UPI) -- Australian suspect Jack Roche, on trial for conspiracy to blow up the Israeli Embassy in Canberra, was convicted Friday after changing his plea to guilty.
Roche, 50, was charged with plotting with al-Qaida and Jemaah Islamiah to bomb the embassy in 2000. The British-born Muslim convert had admitted to meeting Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan in 2000, and to being recruited for surveillance work.
He had pleaded not guilty to the conspiracy charge, but Friday morning changed his plea to guilty, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation reported. He is to be sentenced on Tuesday.
Roche was arrested during raids on suspected JI cells in Australia following the Bali bombings in October 2002.
In his testimony, he said he tried to stop the bombing plot by causing tension between JI leaders in Australia and Hambali, the regional operations chief, who has since been arrested in Thailand.
He also testified that Indonesian cleric Abu Bakar Ba'asyir ordered him to halt his plans due to disagreements among the leaders. Roche said that Ba'asyir was the head of JI, though the 65-year-old cleric was acquitted of that charge in an Indonesian court.
