A rchive Date
[ 07-07-2005 ]
Category
[ International Relations ]
sub-Categoy
[ Canada ]
|
[http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Canada/2005/07/07/1121655-cp.html
Accused terrorist with alleged links to foiled British bomb plot awaits trial
By STEPHEN THORNE
July 7, 2005
OTTAWA (CP) - A Canadian with alleged links to a foiled British bomb plot will remain in an Ottawa-area jail long after five others charged in the case face trial in London, England, authorities said Thursday.
Momin Khawaja, a Canadian-born software developer in his mid-20s, won't face a preliminary hearing until next January while five Britons, all of Pakistani origin, are to face trial in October. Police allege three of the men possessed 600 kilograms of ammonium nitrate fertilizer, a common ingredient in homemade bombs.
Their lawyers were in court filing motions Thursday, hours after terrorists killed dozens of London commuters and wounded hundreds of others in four separate explosions.
Khawaja was arrested in March 2004, the first and only detainee under Canada's new Anti-Terrorist Act.
He was charged with participating in or contributing to the activities of a terrorist group and facilitating terrorist activity. He has been named but not charged in the British case as an unindicted co-conspirator.
Khawaja's lawyer, Lawrence Greenspon, says the case could take two years or more to resolve, since some evidence may have to wait until the British trial is over.
"We've had tonnes of evidence given to us, but when we try to get the authorizations under which that evidence was obtained, we really haven't received any disclosure at all, or very little," Greenspon said.
"There are authorizations in the United Kingdom which allow for the interception of certain evidence over there. The Crown attorney here hasn't even received those authorizations from the British authorities."
Those authorizations may not come until the British trial ends, he said.
Both Greenspon and federal authorities say it is unlikely Thursday's terrorist bombings will affect the case.
"These events, as tragic as they are, don't afford any opportunities for us to do anything other than what we would normally do," said federal prosecutor Bill Boutzouvis. "Does this change the game plan? No."
"He has an absolute right to every procedural safeguard, he's getting them and it's a traditional prosecution."
Greenspon said investigators had given him no indication Thursday they wanted to talk to his client, who has been jailed with the general population in maximum security at the regional detention centre since his arrest.
"He won't be talking to them any further," said his lawyer. "They tried (before). I think they got the message."
An RCMP spokesman said it's too early to draw any parallels between Khawaja's case and developments in London.
A publication ban has been placed on evidence, submissions and reasons given for denying Khawaja bail. The British government has not asked to have him extradited to be tried with the five Britons.
Three of the men have been charged under British anti-terrorism legislation with possessing fertilizer for possible use in "the commission, preparation or instigation of an act of terrorism."
The charge carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison.
They are all charged with conspiracy to cause an explosion, an offence that falls under ordinary criminal law. The maximum sentence is life imprisonment.
Copyright © 2005, Canoe Inc. All rights reserved.
 World Fact Book (CIA)]
Cross-Indexed:
|
|