The first Canadian to be sentenced under the country’s new anti-terrorism legislation will appeal against his conviction, his lawyer says. Pakistan-born Momin Khawaja was convicted of involvement in a foiled fertilizer bomb plot in Britain and sentenced to 10 years and six months.
He was found guilty in October 2008 by a judge in Ontario, Canada in a trial without a jury. Legal experts regarded the trial as a test of Canada’s anti-terror laws.
Khawaja’s lawyer, Lawrence Greenspon, filed the appeal in Ontario, arguing that there were gaps in the prosecution’s evidence. During the 2008 27-day trial, Greenspon suggested Khawaja’s jihadist activities were consistent with his plan to fight with Muslim insurgents in Afghanistan. Such combat, he said, is lawfully exempted under an “armed conflict” provision in Canada’s anti-terrorism laws.
