Canadian 'helped fertiliser bomb plotters'
The first person charged under Canada’s new post-September 11 anti-terror laws is said to have helped the would-be fertiliser bombers that had links to the 7/7 London attack.
The UK's Old Bailey was told for the first time yesterday of connections between the 7/7 suicide bombers and the British terror cell with which Momin Khawaja, a 28-year-old computer software operator from Ottawa, is accused of collaborating.
Khawaja has been in an Ottawa jail since 2004 awaiting a trial that has been delayed by legal arguments.
“It’s difficult for him,” his lawyer Lawrence Greenspon said. “He’s never been in jail before and it’s been over three years.”
“His main concern is that he gets a fair trial.”
Khawaja is alleged to have met fertiliser bomb plot ringleader Omar Khyam in London in 2004 to discuss building a remote-controlled detonator.
The Old Bailey sentenced Khyam and four others to life in prison yesterday for plotting to attack UK targets with fertiliser bombs. Two others were acquitted.
Surveillance teams tracking the five men stumbled on to two of the 7/7 attackers over a year before they killed 52 commuters on July 7 2005, but officials failed to piece together intelligence in time to halt the blasts.
Security officers claim Khyam and transit bomber ringleader Mohammed Sidique Khan trained together at militia camps in Pakistan and met an al Qaida operative now held at the US prison camp at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
Khawaja also allegedly attended terrorist training in Pakistan. The Canadian was arrested in March 2004, a month after his London meeting with Khyam.
The charges against Khawaja include participation in a terrorist group “for the purpose of enhancing the ability of the terrorist group to facilitate or carry out terrorist activity”. He has denied any wrongdoing.
In the British case, Khawaja was named as a co-conspirator for allegedly making detonating devices at his Ottawa home, but was not charged in Britain.
Khawaja’s lawyer said although his client was facing very serious charges in Canada, he did not expect yesterday’s verdicts to have an impact.
“If we were in front of a jury, perhaps they ... would be aware of this verdict in England and (it) might have some prejudicial effect,” Greenspon said from Ottawa.
“But given that we’re proceeding in front of a judge alone for his trial, it should not have an impact on the judge’s reasoning or on his deliberations.”
Documents and police recordings of the suspects released by the Old Bailey reveal details about an alleged conversation between Khyam and Khawaja on February 20 2004.
The conversation allegedly took place at an internet cafe in Slough, where Khawaja showed Khyam an image of the detonator he was building.
Greenspon said Khawaja’s trial, which had been due to begin this month, might not take place until some time in the autumn.
