FED: Habib met bin Laden, did training: ASIO informant

AAP General News (Australia)
12-04-2007
FED: Habib met bin Laden, did training: ASIO informant

A man who was given a laptop computer and other perks by ASIO to inform on Muslim extremists
.. says MAMDOUH HABIB told him he did weapons training in Afghanistan .. and met OSAMA
BIN LADEN.

Former taxi driver IBRAHIM FRASER dobbed in convicted Perth terrorist JACK ROCHE to
Australian authorities .. and today told the NSW Supreme Court he met Mr HABIB in 1998
in Lakemba .. in south-western Sydney.

Mr FRASER said he used to frequent Mr HABIB'S coffee shop .. and they became friends.

He said Mr HABIB told him he'd been to Afghanistan .. seven months before the September
11 attacks.

Mr FRASER says he remembers it clearly .. because Mr HABIB also told him he'd met BIN
LADEN .. and was wearing a t-shirt with the al-Qaeda leader's name on it.

He says Mr HABIB told him he intended to move to Afghanistan with his wife and children
.. because it offered a good Muslim way of life.

Mr FRASER denied being an informant .. but admitted ASIO gave him a laptop computer
so he could keep in touch.

They also paid for his move from Sydney to Perth .. so he could be close to his family.

Mr FRASER was called as a defence witness in Mr HABIB'S defamation case against Nationwide
News .. who's trying to prove he made false claims about torture.

AAP RTV ajc/hn/wf/crh

KEYWORD: HABIB (SYDNEY)

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