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Mohammad Momin Khawaja	Mohammad Momin Khawaja	al-Qaeda in Europe	Britain				20040411
Mohammed Momin Khawaja	Mohammed Momin Khawaja	al-Qaeda	Britain				20040401
Momin Khawaja	Momin Khawaja	al-Qaeda	Great White North				20040331

Great White North

Anti-terror law gets high court's approval

2012-12-15

The Supreme Court of Canada has declared the country's controversial anti-terror law constitutional in a series of unanimous, precedent-setting rulings Friday that affirm how terrorism is defined in the Criminal Code. In a 7-0 ruling written by Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin, the court dismissed a series of charter appeals brought by three men, including terrorist Momin Khawaja -- the first person ever charged under the anti-terror law, which was passed in the wake of the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, in the United States. McLachlin said an Ottawa trial judge erred by giving Khawaja too light a sentence at 101/2 years in prison and said the life sentence later imposed by the Ontario Court of Appeal sent a "clear and unmistakable message that terrorism is reprehensible and those who choose to engage in it (in Canada) will pay a very heavy price." The rulings also upheld extradition orders against two other men, Suresh Sriskandarajah and Piratheepan Nadarajah, who can now be sent to the U.S. to face trial on charges of supporting the Tamil Tigers, a banned terrorist group. The court flatly rejected a series of constitutional challenges brought by the three men, dismissing arguments that the new law was too broad, criminalized harmless activity and violated the charter guarantee of freedom of expression. The ruling essentially means the December 2001 anti-terror law, introduced by the then-Liberal government and supported by the two opposition parties that eventually became the Conservative party, contains no rights violations and doesn't have to be changed.

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Great White North

Convicted Canadian terrorist seeks new trial

2010-05-17

The divide could not be wider between federal prosecutors and Mohammad Momin Khawaja as the top court in Ontario hears an appeal from the first person charged under the Anti-Terrorism Act. The Crown is asking the Ontario Court of Appeal to uphold the terrorism-related convictions of the former Ottawa computer software operator and impose a sentence of life in prison, plus 33 years. "Terrorism is different. It is conceptually and morally distinguishable from ordinary crime because it strikes at the very fabric of our free and democratic society," write prosecutors Beverly Wilton and Nicholas Devlin in arguments filed with the court. For his part, Khawaja is seeking a new trial, arguing that his convictions on five of the seven charges were unreasonable. At a minimum, he is asking to be sentenced to "time served" for the six years already spent in custody. Both sides will put forward their views of the appropriate penalty for Khawaja at a three-day hearing that begins on Tuesday at the Court of Appeal. It is the first time an appellate level court in Canada has been asked to determine the fit sentence for a terrorism offence. Khawaja, 31, was convicted of financing and facilitating terrorism as a result of his ties to a British-based group whose terror plot involving a fertilizer bomb was foiled by the authorities. Khawaja was also found guilty of two criminal offences involving a remote control device that could detonate a bomb. Ontario Superior Court Justice Douglas Rutherford sentenced Khawaja to a further 10 years in prison in March 2009, in addition to five years in pre-trial custody. The judge found that the Crown had not proven Khawaja knew of any specific bomb plot. Instead, he was guilty of supporting "terrorist activity" because of his links to the British group and its support for the armed conflict in Afghanistan. Khawaja should be sentenced for his actions and not the conduct of terrorists such as the September 11 hijackers, argue his lawyers Lawrence Greenspon and Eric Granger. "Their sins ought not to be visited upon Mr. Khawaja in the form of a crushing sentence," they state. During the trial, a section of the Criminal Code that required the Crown to show terrorist activity was for a "political, religious or ideological purpose," was found by Judge Rutherford to violate the freedom of religion provisions of the Charter of Rights. The judge excised the "motive clause" and ruled the rest of the section valid, which is criticized by Khawaja's lawyers. "Perversely, the decision of the trial judge to sever 'motive' from the definition of 'terrorist activity' and to dispense with motive as an element of all terrorist offences uses the Charter not to constrain government action but as an instrument for reducing liberty and freedom and increasing the power of the state," write Khawaja's lawyers. As a result, he was "convicted for offences unknown to law," they say. The Crown is arguing that the "motive clause" does not violate the Charter and that it has shown Khawaja is an unrepentant extremist. "He lived the archetypal life of a modern Western jihadist. He held an innocuous job by day, built detonators and bantered about the destruction of Israel and the West by night," the Crown states. "He stayed mute at his trial, offering no explanation for his words and deeds. His claim that the verdicts are unreasonable has no merit," it adds. The wrongdoing of Khawaja and the extent of his links to the British group have been overstated by the prosecution, his lawyers argue. As well, the remote control device found in his home was "rudimentary" and "never perfected, delivered or used," they suggest.

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Great White North

Canada's first convicted terrorist appeals conviction

2009-04-10

The first Canadian found guilty under Ottawa's anti-terror law is appealing his conviction, Canadian media said Thursday. Momin Khawaja, a 29-year-old Canadian of Pakistani origin, was sentenced to 10-and-a-half years in prison last month for participating in a foiled plot to attack several sites in the United Kingdom. He is eligible for parole five years into his prison term. The plot included attacks on a nightclub, a shopping center and electrical and gas facilities. The software developer's lawyer, Lawrence Greenspon, filed a notice of appeal with Ontario's Court of Appeal, arguing that Khawaja's sentence was excessive, CBC public television reported. In his filing, Greenspon said the sentence was too harsh because the judge had indicated in his ruling that authorities were unable to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Khawaja was aware of the specific details of the plot planned by a British terror group, according to CBC. During the trial, the defense had argued that Khawaja wanted to participate in jihad (holy war) in Afghanistan but had never intended to collaborate in terror attacks in Britain. Five of Khawaja's suspected accomplices were found guilty and sentenced to long prison terms in April 2007 in Britain.

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Great White North

Canadian terror law challenged in court

2009-04-08

Said Namouh's computer held all sorts of videos, of American soldiers being blown up, the executions of "infidels" and a how-to guide on suicide attacks. But are these "jihadi" videos, and hundreds of online conversations drawn from the basement computer of the Moroccan native the underpinnings of terrorism, or were they simply the goings-on of a man practising his right to free expression? It's a central question to a case unfolding in a Montreal courtroom that is challenging the constitutionality of Canada's terror laws. "This whole business of promoting and advocating jihad is the heart of the case," said Namouh's lawyer, René Duval, outside the courtroom yesterday. "They believe my client has advocated criminal acts through jihad by putting things on the Internet." Duval contends that the terror laws, pushed through Parliament following the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, contravene the constitutional rights to freedom of expression and religion. "They have the potential to catch both speech that is acceptable and that which is not," Duval said. Namouh faces charges of conspiracy as well as participating in and facilitating the activities of a terrorist group, and extortion on behalf of a terrorist group. The Crown says Namouh, 36, was a key member of the Global Islamic Media Front, considered a major propaganda arm of such terrorist groups as Al Qaeda. It's alleged Namouh edited, subtitled and disseminated many of the videos himself. A resident of Maskinongé, about 100 kilometres northeast of Montreal, Namouh was arrested on Sept. 13, 2007, for his alleged role in plotting terror attacks in Germany and Austria over their military role in Afghanistan. Yesterday's court proceedings revolved heavily around whether actions targeted by the legislation are forms of expression protected by the Charter of Rights and Freedoms because they don't involve violence. Judge Claude Leblond asked Duval if speech that encourages people to be martyrs or jihadists "is speech that supports and does not undermine freedom of expression?" "It's a genre of speech that is better controlled in the market of ideas than by legislation," Duval replied. Earlier, Duval told the judge, "when we criminalize propaganda, we criminalize a form of speech." Crown prosecutor Dominique Dudemaine, however, said the basic concept of jihad, which can be interpreted as "struggle," is not what the legislation is aimed at. It's the "incitement to blow something up." Dudemaine referred to judgments that have upheld Canada's terror laws, including last fall's conviction of Momin Khawaja, the first person charged under the Anti-Terrorism Act. Khawaja was found guilty of financing and facilitating terrorism and was sentenced last month to 10 1/2 years in prison. On balance, Dudemaine said, "the legislation is valid because it doesn't infringe on any rights." Among the many videos the Crown attributes to Namouh is one of BBC journalist Alan Johnston, kidnapped in Gaza in 2007 by the Army of Islam, a group affiliated with GIMF. (Johnston has been since freed.)

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Great White North

Unrepentant Canadian gets 10 years for UK bomb plot

2009-03-13

First conviction under Canada's anti-terrorism law Momin Khawaja, the first person to be sentenced under Canada's anti-terrorism law, was a determined Islamic jihadist who has shown no remorse, Justice Douglas Rutherford said yesterday as he handed the convicted terrorist 10 1/2 years in prison. Acknowledging the historic moment, Rutherford said he wanted to send a message that terrorism in Canada won't be tolerated, but at least one expert said the judge failed by not handing out at least one life sentence to the Ottawa software developer. The Ottawa-born Khawaja, 29, has already spent five years behind bars, and must serve five years before he is eligible for parole. "Momin Khawaja was clearly aware and knowledgeable of some of the terrorist activities," the judge said, pointing to Khawaja's association with internationally known Islamic terrorists, his work on remote-control detonating devices, his eager involvement in a terrorist training camp in Pakistan and his role in directly and indirectly financing terrorism from 2002 to 2004. Khawaja was the first person to be charged under the 2001 Anti-Terrorism Act, pushed through Parliament following the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks in the United States. Khawaja, a former contract federal government employee, was convicted in the fall of five counts of financing and facilitating terrorism for providing cash to a group of British extremists, offering them lodging and other assistance, and undergoing training at the remote camp in Pakistan. He was also found guilty of two criminal offences related to building a remote-control device, known as the Hi-Fi Digimonster, meant to detonate bombs. Five associates of Khawaja, including bomb-plot ringleader Omar Khyam, were sentenced to prison in 2007 after being convicted in London of a foiled plot to target a nightclub, a construction firm, and gas, water and power utilities. Rutherford told the court that Khawaja's activities were "directed at assisting his terrorist associates in a way that could only result in serious injury, death and destruction." Not once during his 27-day trial did Khawaja indicate he was "repentant for his misdeeds or willing to make amends," Rutherford said. Even so, the judge ruled out a sentence of life in prison, saying he didn't consider Khawaja in the same league as the London bomb plotters, who were sentenced to life in jail. Rutherford added the sentence would have been longer if not for the glimmer of hope that Khawaja could be rehabilitated. The judge also took into account the fact Khawaja has been held in custody since his arrest by RCMP on March 29, 2004, at his home in Orleans. The defence and Crown each said they are considering appealing the sentence. "That is a very severe and potentially appealable sentence," said Khawaja's lawyer, Lawrence Greenspon, who had asked that the sentence be limited to time already served. Prosecutor David McKercher said the sentence was "less than the Crown was asking for" and that his team would consider the decision carefully" before deciding whether to appeal. McKercher had been seeking two life sentences, with an additional 44 to 58 years in prison. Greenspon accused the Crown of "creating an unrealistic expectation" among the public by asking for such a harsh sentence. Wesley Wark, a University of Toronto professor who specializes in anti-terrorism issues, said Rutherford seemed to contradict himself when he repeatedly reinforced the seriousness of what Khawaja did, and then handed him a relatively light sentence, including three-month sentences for two of the terror-related charges. "The terrorism act, I think, has passed its test as an act," Wark said. "It works (because) Mr. Khawaja was convicted, but I think the real question at issue today was how to reach appropriate sentences for those people convicted. "From my perspective the surprising thing is that Mr. Khawaja comes away with a relatively light sentence ... and certainly my expectation was that he would face at least one life sentence," Wark said.

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Great White North

Toronto mosque offers 'detox' for Islamic radicals

2009-02-12

In what is likely the first of its kind in Canada, a Toronto mosque is offering a "detox" program for young Islamic radicals who are sympathetic to the terrorist group al Qaeda. Muhammed Robert Heft, a team member of the Specialized De-radicalization Intervention program, says the program is based on the idea that Islamic extremism can be fought by incorporating traditional teachings of the Qur'an into a "12-step Extremist Detox Program." Among the steps in the program offered at Toronto's Masjid El Noor mosque: * Finding common ground, "not fighting ground," with other faiths * In the "Open society of Canada," how to reconcile "dogmatic idealism with pragmatic realism" * Seeing the whole as one, and take into account "global challenges that affect us all." * Actively countering extremist ideology through "education, public speaking and writing." "As Canadians of Muslim faith, it is our ardent desire to become leaders in the championing of anti-terror values," says a document explaining the program. Heft told CTV Newsnet's Power Play on Wednesday that among the young radical Islamic followers the mosque is hoping to counsel are members of the notorious "Toronto 18." In 2006, a series of counter-terrorism raids in the Greater Toronto Area resulted in the arrest of 18 alleged members of a purported Islamic terrorist cell plotting a variety of attacks against targets in Ontario. That case, along with that of Ottawa's Momin Khawaja who was convicted for his role in a British terror cell, have raised concerns about home-grown terrorism. Heft said there are many sects in Islam, and that "99.9" per cent of Islamic leaders across the country agree they must work together to combat extremism. But he did admit there are a "small number of firebrand preachers" who try to persuade young Muslims to jump onto the extremist bandwagon. "Unfortunately, a few emotional, Internet-surfing, like-minded individuals who do what I call 'Do-It-Yourself Islam,' find themselves getting caught up in emotion and justify getting caught up in the hate that's inside them," Heft told Power Play host Tom Clark. "They end up falling prey to people with deviant views of the religion." But he says if one studies the tradition of Islam, going back to the orthodox scholars, "you realize these are the teachings of Islam." And by incorporating these teachings into the mosque's program, Heft claims he's had success converting those who formerly held radical, anti-Semitic views into "productive members of society." He says the program has also helped disenfranchised Muslims get jobs, and to get off welfare. "We're winning," said Heft.

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Great White North

Pakistani Canadian convicted of terrorist crimes

2008-10-31

Mohammad Momin Khawaja, a Pakistani-Canadian, has been convicted of terrorist crimes by a Canadian court and is likely to receive a stiff sentence on 18 November. Khawaja has been convicted of seven offences, including that he was a bomb-builder; that he had trained as a terrorist; and that he had financed terrorism through an intermediary. Khawaja (29), who grew up in Canada, has been convicted of seven offences, five of which come under the 2001 Anti-Terrorism Act, including that he was a bomb-builder; that he had trained as a terrorist; and that he had financed terrorism through an intermediary. Sentencing on the individual counts ranges from 10 years to life. Justice Douglas Rutherford of Ontario Superior Court found that Khawaja, whose day job was to fix computers for Canada's Foreign Affairs Department, felt it was his calling to do whatever he could to help a band of British Al Qaeda sympathisers whom he had met on the Internet. Last year, five of these men were convicted of plotting to bomb packed nightclubs and busy shopping malls around London, in hopes of creating a panic that would force the British government to pull its soldiers from Iraq and Afghanistan, the Globe and Mail reports. Tarek Fatah, co-founder of the progressive Muslim Canadian Congress, said in a statement that Khawaja's conviction comes "after this terrorist had been portrayed by Islamist groups in Canada as a victim of so-called Islamophobia and racial profiling". The conviction should serve as a wake-up call to self-styled leaders of the Muslim community who painted the picture of Momin Khawaja as a victim and the Crown as the enemy. May be Islamists in Canada and the West will now come to their senses and cease spreading a sense of false victimhood among young Muslim men.

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Great White North

Descent into jihad

2008-10-30

Momin Khawaja remained silent throughout his 4-and-a-half-year-long case, but dozens of e-mails he wrote prior to his arrest reveal how and why this quiet Canadian, with a nice family from a nice Ottawa suburb, dedicated his life to terrorism and destroying the West.

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Britain

Canadian al-Qaeda bomb-maker guilty in British fertiliser bomb plot

2008-10-29

A Canadian man has been found guilty of designing the detonators for a thwarted al-Qaeda attack on the Bluewater shopping centre and Ministry of Sound nightclub in Britain. Mohammed Momin Khawaja flew to Britain to show his device, the "hi-fi digimonster," to the cell based in Crawley, West Sussex. But the terrorists were already under surveillance and bugged recordings heard the men discussing targeting the shopping centre in Kent or the central London nightclub. Police later discovered they had stored half a ton of ammonium nitrate for the bomb in a lock-up in north-west London. The rest of the gang, led by Omar Khyam, were convicted last year and yesterday a judge in Ontario, Canada, also found Khawaja guilty. He will be sentenced in late November. Rest at link. Khawaja's father is a real PoS too.

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Great White North

Canadian prosecutors decry 'quartermaster of terror'

2008-08-28

Momin Khawaja was ready to provide and "pull the trigger" of a deadly weapon for an Islamic extremist terror cell when he built a remote-control detonator device in 2004, said the Crown attorney in the terrorism trial of the Orleans man. Describing the software designer as "a zealot with deadly intentions," federal prosecutor David McKercher said yesterday the 29-year-old man acted as a "quartermaster of terror," eagerly supplying money and militia-like gear for a London-based jihad group that planned a fertilizer bomb plot targeting a U.K. nightclub, shopping complex and gas and electric facilities. In a blistering rebuttal to a defence motion asking the trial judge to quash all seven terrorism charges against Khawaja, McKercher said Justice Douglas Rutherford should take Khawaja's self-description as "the West's mortal enemy" in literal terms. "Momin Khawaja was prepared to provide and metaphorically pull the trigger of a very powerful weapon," McKercher said of the so-called "Hi-Fi Digimonster" the software developer allegedly built for a U.K.-based bomb plot. "Others in the group had provided the power of the blast, the ammunition," said McKercher, referring to 600 kg of ammonium nitrate fertilizer seized by British police at a depot in March 2004. Omar Khyam, the leader of the conspiracy who was convicted with four other plotters in 2007 by a British jury, "was pointing the weapon and the barrel of the weapon was still swinging when the plot was interrupted by authorities," said McKercher. If the plot had been carried out, "Momin Khawaja would be perfectly content with the brutally deadly results of his handiwork of which he, along with the rest of the world, would learn about in press reports the following day," said McKercher. The defence has argued Khawaja wanted to be a "front-line jihadi soldier" in Afghanistan and should be considered a combatant in an armed conflict, not a terrorist as defined by Canadian law. But McKercher compared the defence argument to a "three-card Monte" game or a shell game, where defence lawyer Lawrence Greenspon keeps shifting the walnut shells to conceal "the hard kernel of truth." "Terrorist activity is terrorist activity whether it's under the shell marked 'Canada', the one marked 'United Kingdom' or the one marked 'Afghanistan' or 'Pakistan,' " said McKercher. "They all have publics who can be intimidated," said the McKercher of the potential of terror attacks on airplanes, schools, subway stations or aide workers. Greenspon has said Khawaja was building the "Hi-Fi Digimonster" to use in Afghanistan but McKercher said Khawaja's own e-mails to Khyam discussed the logistics of getting the devices into the U.K., not Afghanistan. A British security service surveillance bug in February 2004 also picked up Khawaja telling his associates in a London flat the device's signal couldn't be blocked out in an urban area -- evidence, McKercher said, of Khawaja's thoughts of using it in a city, not a remote area such as the hills of Afghanistan. McKercher also noted an RCMP explosives expert told the court that unlike a traceable cellphone detonator signal, a remote-control detonator like the Hi-Fi Digimonster would leave "no identifiable markers" after an explosion. The Crown also said Khawaja's weapons training could have been used to launch rocket-propelled grenades at office buildings in the U.K.

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Great White North

Wannabe terrorist's pursuits labeled 'a hobby'... by his dad

2008-08-22

They arrive at Courtroom No. 37, emptying their pockets and taking off their shoes like the rest of the observers going through the security at Momin Khawaja's terrorism trial. The middle-aged couple sits in the centre section of the near-empty courtroom. The tall, balding white-haired husband looks composed as lawyers pore over surveillance transcripts, electronic component diagrams and case law. His petite wife sits at his side, her hijab scarf framing a face lined with worry. Since the start of their son's trial in late June, Mahboob and Azra Khawaja have listened to prosecutors describe how their 29-year-old son allegedly built a remote-control detonator to help a terrorist group blow up landmarks in the United Kingdom. This week, they heard their son's lawyer explain that Momin isn't technically a terrorist since he wanted to wage jihad in Afghanistan, not the U.K., and use his so-called "Hi-Fi Digimonster" against Western soldiers, including Canadians. While the guilt or innocence of the software designer will hinge on the definition of terrorism that Ontario Superior Court Justice Douglas Rutherford eventually makes in the precedent-setting case, Momin's father says his son doesn't harbour any hostility toward Canadians. "He's not the guy who would have any hatred for anybody here in Canada," Mahboob told the Sun yesterday in his first interview since the start of the trial two months ago. "He's not the guy who'd have any hatred for anyone. That's not the way we brought up our children, living here and being born in Canada and seeing different parts of the world," said Mahboob, a college administrator who lived in Saudi Arabia with his wife and children when Momin was a child. While the trial has heard the computer programmer explain in e-mails that he wanted to devote himself to "the J" -- violent jihad against the non-Muslim world -- Mahboob says it's simply the angry talk of a young man upset at the invasion of Afghanistan by U.S. and U.K. forces. "All kids are emotional at this stage of their life and they're going through developmental processes. They are changing, shifting on a weekly, monthly basis," said Mahboob of an e-mail where Momin tells his then-fiancee "the actions of 19 men on Sept. 11 are the most accurate, effective and honourable way of conducting economic J." While defence lawyer Lawrence Greenspon says Momin wanted to fight with Islamic insurgents in Afghanistan, his father called Momin's interest in jihad "a hobby." "This could be considered a hobby but not a professional pursuit in any way I could imagine," said Mahboob, who views jihad as "a struggle" involving "self-development and making good changes for you and developing for the good of the society." In one e-mail to his fiancee, Zeba Khan, in the fall of 2003, Momin said his mother wanted to make sure that his future wife was "down with the J, and knew of my involvement with it. I told her that I had explained myself to you in regards to the J, so I in trust (sic) Allah with all my affairs of life." "It's news to me," said Mahboob of his wife's views. "I don't think my wife has any comment on jihad. It's just a general concept," he said. "I don't think we have any hatred. We have harmony, respect and consideration," he added.

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Olde Tyme Religion

Muslim Men and the Roots of Anger

2008-07-30

Before resting its recent case against Mohammed Momin Khawaja under Canada's Anti-Terrorism Act, the prosecution presented Momin's former fiancée, Zeba Khan, as the final witness via a video link from Dubai. Ms. Khan reportedly stated in her testimony: "You will not meet a young Muslim man in the world who is not angry about something. Anyone who watches the news, if he wasn't mad then, a) there's something wrong with him, or b) he's ignorant." Obviously, not all angry young Muslim men are engaging in violence -- nor, of course, are all Muslims terrorists. But many terrorists are found to be Muslims. Ms. Khan's remark purports to explain the linkage. It is perhaps no coincidence that Mr. Khawaja has Pakistani roots. In recent years, Pakistan has become a haven for al-Qaeda terrorists. For longer than that, jihadis have recruited Pakistani boys and men to fight in Kashmir and Afghanistan. These brainwashed men may be volunteers headed out to fight infidel "invaders" and "occupiers" of Muslim lands, but it cannot be said that they are acting entirely on their own initiative.

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