Former Melbourne taxi driver, Jack Thomas, had been found guilty of receiving money and an airline ticket from Al Qaeda - which is proscribed as a terrorist organisation in Australia.
Jack Thomas had been in custody for a total of four months and one week. He'll now remain in jail for at least two more years before becoming eligible for parole.
His parents are disappointed.
“The thing what is weighing very heavily on our minds, the conditions that Jack is being held under. They are truly very punitive. Jack has been for some time this last month been held in solitary confinement,” his father Ian Thomas said.
Justice Philip Cummins described the charges against Thomas as serious - pointing out that receiving money from Al Qaeda carried a maximum term of 25 years, and possessing a false passport two years.
The Victorian Supreme Court judge told Thomas, Al Qaeda was not a charity or travel agent -- and gave him $3500 US dollars for terrorist purposes.
"You accepted the money. You accepted the airline ticket. You arranged for Al Qaeda to falsify your passport.”
"You are not foolish and naïve, nor were you. You are an intelligent adult," the judge told the 32 year old.
Much of the prosecution case relied on an interview with Jack Thomas conducted by Australian Federal Police in Pakistan. The defence maintains that evidence should not have been allowed, and now will be the subject of an appeal.
“Having been detained or in custody for a period of 3 months at that point, it is our view that the interview, the whole interview process then became contaminated. And that will be the subject of argument in the court of appeal,” Thomas’ lawyer Rob Stary said.
Mr Stary said he would lodge appeal papers on Monday.
The Judge also denied claims by Thomas's other lawyer, Lex Lasry QC that this had been a trophy trial.