A judge was to decide yesterday the guilt or innocence of a Canadian man accused of participating in a plot to bomb British targets in 2004.
Momin Khawaja, a Pakistani-born Canadian citizen, is accused of collaborating with British Muslims, also of Pakistani descent, in a thwarted plan to bomb British buildings and natural gas lines. Five alleged co-conspirators were convicted in London last year and jailed for life.
Justice Douglas Rutherford was to issue his verdict yesterday morning in a trial that started in June. Legal disputes and constitutional challenges delayed the trial for years.
Khawaja was the first person to be charged of a terrorist offense in Canada since the country enacted anti-terrorism laws in 2001 and his case is considered the first major test of those laws.
Khawaja, 29, pleaded not guilty to all charges alleging his involvement in a plot to attack London’s Ministry of Sound nightclub, a shopping center and electrical and gas facilities in Britain. Prosecutors painted Khawaja as an extremist who, along with co-conspirators in Britain, was determined to sow havoc.
Defense lawyer Lawrence Greenspon has acknowledged that Khawaja, an Ottawa software developer, created a remote-control device for setting off explosives. But he insisted it was meant for use against military targets in Afghanistan — not for a homemade fertilizer bomb being constructed by the plotters in London. He says the plotters never let Khawaja in on their plans to mount attacks in Britain.
Greenspon did not call Khawaja or anyone else to testify.
The prosecution’s star witness, Mohammed Babar, a former al-Qaeda operative turned police informant, testified that Khawaja attended a training camp in Pakistan in 2003. He also claimed Khawaja acted as a courier to deliver money and supplies and discussed various potential operations.
Khawaja faces seven charges under Canada’s Anti-Terrorism Act, including the allegation that he built the remote-control device to trigger explosions. He is also accused of financing and facilitating terrorism, participating in terrorist training and meetings, and making a house owned by his family in Pakistan available for terrorist use.
The charges carry a maximum penalty of life in prison.
Wesley Wark, a University of Toronto professor and national-security expert, said Greenspon essentially indicated Khawaja’s guilt on the charges that had to do with possession and utilization of an explosive device.
Wark said Canada has tough anti-terrorism laws that allow for a conviction even if an accused person did not fully know the details of the conspiracy.
“It actually doesn’t require a full knowledge of a terrorism plot,” Wark said.
Canada’s anti-terror law was ushered in following the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in the US.
The law was used two years ago to charge 18 individuals in an unrelated alleged conspiracy to bomb targets in Toronto. But most of those cases are still before the courts.
The first suspect to go to trial in that case was found guilty last month of participating in military exercises and firearms training. The man — who wasn’t among the ringleaders — was the first person to be found guilty of a terrorist offense in Canada since the country enacted the anti-terrorism laws in 2001.
The arrests of the 18 group members, known as the “Toronto 18,” made headlines around the world and heightened fears in Canada, where people believe they are relatively immune from terrorist strikes.
Australians were downloading virtual private networks (VPNs) in droves, while one of the world’s largest porn distributors said it was blocking users from its platforms as the country yesterday rolled out sweeping online age restriction. Australia in December became the first country to impose a nationwide ban on teenagers using social media. A separate law now requires artificial intelligence (AI)-powered chatbot services to keep certain content — including pornography, extreme violence and self-harm and eating disorder material — from minors or face fines of up to A$49.5 million (US$34.6 million). The country also joined Britain, France and dozens of US states requiring
Hungarian authorities temporarily detained seven Ukrainian citizens and seized two armored cars carrying tens of millions of euros in cash across Hungary on suspicion of money laundering, officials said on Friday. The Ukrainians were released on Friday, following their detention on Thursday, but Hungarian officials held onto the cash, prompting Ukraine to accuse Hungary’s Russia-friendly government of illegally seizing the money. “We will not tolerate this state banditism,” Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs Andrii Sybiha said. The seven detained Ukrainians were employees of the Ukrainian state-owned Oschadbank, who were traveling in the two armored cars that were carrying the money between Austria and
Kosovar President Vjosa Osmani on Friday after dissolving the Kosovar parliament said a snap election should be held as soon as possible to avoid another prolonged political crisis in the Balkan country at a time of global turmoil. Osmani said it is important for Kosovo to wrap up the upcoming election process and form functional institutions for political stability as the war rages in the Middle East. “Precisely because the geopolitical situation is that complex, it is important to finish this electoral process which is coming up,” she said. “It is very hard now to imagine what will happen next.” Kosovo, which declared
MORE BANS: Australia last year required sites to remove accounts held by under-16s, with a few countries pushing for similar action at an EU level and India considering its own ban Indonesia on Friday said it would ban social media access for children under 16, citing threats from online pornography, cyberbullying, online fraud and Internet addiction. “Accounts belonging to children under 16 on high-risk platforms will start to be deactivated, beginning with YouTube, TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, Threads, X, Bigo Live and Roblox,” Indonesian Minister of Communications and Digital Meutya Hafid said. “The government is stepping in so that parents no longer have to fight alone against the giants of the algorithm. Implementation will begin on March 28, 2026,” she said. The social media ban would be introduced in stages “until all platforms fulfill their
RSS