Terror Attacks on London England - 07 Jul 05 & 21 Jul 05

[Scoobie Newbie]

"He became a radicalized Muslim while serving a prison sentence..."

A problem the US should view seriously.

 

[Pearson]

Round up has started in London

LONDON, England (CNN) -- All four men suspected of planting failed bombs on London's transit system on July 21 are now in custody, according to sources in London and Rome.

Two suspects were picked up Friday during a raid at a government-subsidized apartment building in west London, sources close to the investigation told CNN.

One of the men arrested at the Dalgarno Gardens apartment building identified himself as Muktar Said Ibrahim and the other man identified himself as Ramzi Muhammed, said Peter Clarke, head of the Metropolitan Police Anti-Terrorist Branch.

British police said Ibrahim is suspected of planting a backpack bomb on a double-decker bus in Hackney, east London, on July 21.

Speaking at a news conference Clarke also confirmed a report from Italy's Interior Ministry that another suspected bomber was arrested in Rome Friday. Italian authorities identified him as Osman Hussain, a Somali with British residency, but Clarke named him as Hussain Osman.

The fourth suspected bomber, Yasin Hassan Omar, 24 -- also a Somali with British residency -- was arrested Wednesday in Birmingham. Police said he was suspected of placing a backpack bomb at London's Warren Street Underground station.

Clarke added though that despite progress made in the investigation, the terrorism threat remains "very real."

Two weeks before the failed attacks, bombs on three subway trains and a bus killed 56 people, including four suicide bombers.

London arrests
Dramatic video obtained by ITN of Friday's raids in London showed Ibrahim and Muhammed, suspected to be the Oval Station bomber, with their shirts off and hands in the air.

Before the men came out, the video showed police with gas masks two stories below entering another flat. One of the officers was temporarily distracted by two unafraid children.

One woman, who would not reveal her name, said she heard the entire three-hour exchange between the suspects and police, who had called for "Muhammed" to come out of the building. (Eyewitness accounts)

"Police started to say to him you need to come out of the flat ... with your underwear on and your arms up in the air," she told reporters. "He was then saying to them, 'How do I know that you're not going to ... shoot me?'

"They said you need to come out into the street with your underwear on so that we know that you haven't got any explosives on you, and so that we know that you're not a risk to the police or the public."

She said she heard the exchange from her apartment window, and the man sounded like he may have been crying. After he stopped talking to the police, she said, "a more aggressive police officer got on the loudspeaker and started saying to him, 'You need to maintain contact.'"

"He didn't maintain contact. And after a while you started to see the SWAT teams arriving ... and once they came out, and after about 15 minutes of not having contact with him, you heard like the gunshots go off."

Another raid took place in Notting Hill where another man was arrested. British Transport Police said two women were also arrested under the Terrorism Act at Liverpool Street station just before 2 p.m. (1300 GMT).

A few minutes later, the station -- a major train and subway hub in the city's financial district -- was evacuated following the discovery of an unattended suitcase on the main station concourse. The station reopened shortly after 3 p.m.

The location of Friday's operation in west London is about one mile from Little Wormwood Scrubs Park, where police found a fifth undetonated bomb three days after the attempted July 21 bombings.

Police said the bomb was in a plastic container identical to the four partially-detonated devices left on three tube train cars and double-decker bus.

The neighborhood is also a little over a mile from the Shepherd's Bush Underground station, where one of the July 21 bombers failed to detonate a his bomb, then fled, running on a course in the direction of this park.

On Thursday, police arrested nine men in the Tooting area of south London.

Six were detained at one address and three at another, according to Metropolitan Police.

Rome arrest
The arrest of Hussain in Rome came in a joint operation between Scotland Yard and the Italian police, a senior intelligence source told CNN.

Scotland Yard tipped off the Italian authorities and were able to trace Hussain's cell phone from London to Rome, the source said.

CNN's Jennifer Eccleston, in Rome, said it was not clear when he left London for Italy but was thought to have taken a train and stopped off in the town of Brescia, northern Italy, before heading to Rome.

He was arrested in an apartment also owned by a man also believed to be a Somali, thought to be a relative of Hussain, though a legal resident in Italy, Eccleston said.

The man owns a call center in Rome where many immigrants go to call back home, she said.

The senior intelligence source also told CNN that the man was believed to be in custody with Hussain.

They were captured by Italy's special police unit. Hussain and the other suspect were now being held at the city's main police station, she said and Hussain was currently undergoing interrogation.

London police said they would ask Italy to extradite Hussain.

 

[1feral1]

Anyways, so it was a typical Friday tropical winter's night here on the island (about 20C after dark, www.bribie.com.au we went down to the surf club on the beach at Woorim for dinner (2 can dine for $29 w/bottle of red wine and of couse an few Cougar whiskys to boot :blotto: ). Nancy drove, got home about 2130, flicked on the box about 2230 (0630 Friday Canadian CST) after Nancy crashed for the night. I just thought I'd catch a bit of TV before I too went to bed.

To my amazement, I watched the siege unfold live on SkyNews for several hours before crashing on the chesterfield myself (self imposed TV exile for the night). So, its now almost 0730 Saturday (1530 Canadian CST Friday), and I am   happy to see that all these grubs are now in the hands of the authorities, and I am somewhat relieved, but what about the '5th' bomber, and others which have been influenced by these grub's behaviour. I don't think England (and us for that matter) are out of the woods yet.

Aside from all of that, we can be assured that the Poms will grill these humanoids (and I use that term loosely) using all forms of interrogation (and then some ;D ) that their laws will permit, and hopefully with tonnes of pressure on, they'll spill their guts like the cowards they are, and tell everything they know. For those who harboured these potential murderers, lets hope too they are made examples of. I am sure the Poms have ZERO tolorence on any of the trash who supports them all, especially after the 7-7 attacks.

Although this is a victory, the tempo of our vigilance must remain constant, as there are others who right now want to take their place, and not just in the UK either.

Sadly, Sam Lee, was buried in Melbourne yesterday. Sam was only 28 years old, and the only Australian killed   on 7-7. He was on the bus that was destroyed by a homicide bomber. A total of 10 Australians were injured, most still in hosptial, where a young woman lost both her legs in the attack. I guess at times like this, we don't realise how lucky we all are, safe and sound in our own secure zones in our homes with the people we love and care about. I guess we should never take anything for granted, should we. There is no doubt that monring of the 7th, the people who were murdered and injured we thinking the same thing before they left their homes. Yip, we don't realise how lucky we really are.

Regards,

Wes

 

[George Wallace]

For those who haven't been following this; the Terrorism Trial of Momin Khawaja is currently going on in Ottawa.  The Defence is now working on "semantics" saying that yes Khawaja did train in Afghanistan, and yes he did design the bomb; but it was not for the plot in England.  :

Reproduced under the Fair Dealings provisions of the Copyright Act.

Khawaja didn't target civilians in Britain: defence
Updated: Tue Aug. 19 2008 14:43:58

The Canadian Press

OTTAWA — Momin Khawaja undoubtedly wanted to fight for the Islamic cause in Afghanistan, but he never intended to bomb civilians in Britain, says his defence lawyer.

Lawrence Greenspon acknowledged Tuesday in Ontario Superior Court that there's "ample evidence" Khawaja took weapons training with a view to becoming a "frontline jihad soldier" in the battle against western forces in Afghanistan.

He also acknowledged that his client developed a remote-control device, dubbed the Hi-Fi Digimonster, that was capable of being used to set off explosives.

But he insisted the Digimonster, too, was designed for use against military targets in Afghanistan -- not for a homemade fertilizer bomb being constructed by others in Britain.

"There is no direct evidence that Momin Khawaja had any knowledge of the London fertilizer bomb plot," Greenspon told Justice Douglas Rutherford, who is hearing the case without a jury.

Greenspon maintained that the London plotters -- although they had frequent contact with Khawaja -- never let him in on their plans to mount attacks in Britain.

"They kept their information close and they didn't share it."

The comments came as Greenspon presented a motion demanding that Rutherford quash the terrorism charges facing his client on grounds that the prosecution has failed to produce enough evidence to substantiate the allegations.

Khawaja, an Ottawa software developer, faces seven charges under the Anti-Terrorism Act, including a key allegation that he built the so-called Digimonster.

He's 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.

Five alleged co-conspirators were convicted last year in Britain of plotting to bomb targets that included a nightclub, shopping centre and gas and electrical facilities. But Khawaja has pleaded not guilty to all the charges facing him in Canada.

Greenspon has hinted, in previous cross-examination of Crown witnesses, that his defence would be to claim Khawaja had his eye on potential operations in Afghanistan, rather than in Britain.

But the session Tuesday was the first time the defence has laid out its theory in such detail.

Greenspon was vague in court about exactly who Khawaja wanted to fight against in Afghanistan, or who the targets could be for homemade bombs to be detonated there by the Digimonster.

He referred at one point to targeting Northern Alliance soldiers and also mentioned U.S. troops.

Pressed later by reporters outside the courtroom, Greenspon acknowledged the potential targets could have included Canadian troops, as well.

The targets would be any opponents of the Islamic insurgents fighting foreign forces, said the defence lawyer. "It does include Canadian and it also includes American soldiers."

It could conceivably be an offence under the Criminal Code to design explosives in Canada for use against Canadians and their military allies abroad, Greenspon conceded. But that's not the offence Khawaja is charged with, nor does it fit the legal definition of terrorism, he said.

The prosecution has yet to offer a reply to the latest assertions by the defence.

But in five weeks of testimony that concluded last month, prosecutors produced a wealth of evidence in an effort to justify the charges against Khawaja.

The prosecution's star witness, Mohammed Babar, a former al-Qaida operative turned police informer, 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.

Evidence gathered by the British security agency MI-5 indicated Khawaja visited people involved in the British bomb plot in 2004 and discussed remote-control technology with them.

The RCMP says it later found the Digimonster in a raid on the Khawaja family home in suburban Ottawa, and enough components to suggest Khawaja may have been planning to build more devices.

There has also been testimony that Khawaja used an Ottawa-area woman, Zenab Armandpisheh, as a go-between to funnel money to co-conspirators in Britain.

In email exchanges with Zeba Khan, his former fiancee, Khawaja boasted of his devotion to jihadi activities and indicated his support for the 9/11 attacks in the United States. But Khan said she considered it just talk and couldn't believe Khawaja was actually involved in terrorist activity.

http://ottawa.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20080819/khawaja_trial_080819/20080819/?hub=OttawaHomeLINK


SYMANTICS!  Does it matter where "exactly" he designed the bomb for?  It could have landed up in France, or Spain, or Italy, or here at home.  It could have been anywhere.  It was a "Terrorist Act" and it doesn't matter where the bomb was destined.

 

[George Wallace]

Reproduced under the Fair Dealings provisions of the Copyright Act.



The defence does not rest

When Lawrence Greenspon took Momin Khawaja's case, he knew the fight would be long and hard. As Chris Cobb reports, he spent his life preparing for it.
Chris Cobb, The Ottawa Citizen
Published: Monday, August 18, 2008
OTTAWA - When seasoned defence lawyer Lawrence Greenspon met Momin Khawaja for the first time four years ago, he wasn't convinced he was the right person to represent the young, computer savvy Ottawa Muslim accused of helping plot international terror attacks.

"You need a lawyer who knows computers," Mr. Greenspon told him, "and that's not me. You need a lawyer who is familiar with Islam, and that's not me, and third, you need someone who is going to fight long and hard for you."

The Khawaja family had asked Mr. Greenspon to meet Momin, who seemed unconcerned that the lawyer, a Jew, had little knowledge of Islam and, back then, only passing acquaintance with personal computer technology. (He only read e-mails after his secretary presented them in printed form.)

Mr. Greenspon warned his new client not to expect a rapid resolution, but not even he expected four years of epic legal battles that would keep Mr. Khawaja in protracted limbo.

The trial enters its final phase tomorrow when Mr. Greenspon begins presenting his case before Ontario Superior Court Justice Douglas Rutherford.

The Orléans software developer, now 29, is the first Canadian charged under post-9/11 anti-terrorism legislation and faces seven charges of financing and facilitating terrorism, including the accusation that he built a remote detonating device to trigger explosions in Britain. Five of his alleged conspirators in the British plot, which was foiled by police, are now serving life sentences. If he is found guilty, Mr. Khawaja faces similar punishment.

It is the destiny of the players in the Khawaja trial to be forever joined in Canadian legal history and Mr. Greenspon doesn't deny that part of the attraction in taking the case was the precedent-setting challenge of fighting new legislation whose very existence he considered draconian and unnecessary.

"Canada does what it always does in cases of supposed insurrection," he says. "We pass a law. But 9/11 didn't happen because of a failure of law. It happened because of a failure of intelligence and a failure to recognize the impact of U.S. actions in various parts of the world."

Mr. Greenspon dislikes the inevitable characterization of a liberal Jewish lawyer defending a radical Muslim accused and says his motivation in defending Mr. Khawaja is the same as his motivation for defending anyone -- especially high-profile cases in which the accused has been publicly vilified ahead of trial.

"Momin, like anybody charged with a serious crime, deserves someone who will fight for him and give it their best," he says.

In October 2006, two years into the case, Mr. Greenspon scored a key victory when Judge Rutherford struck down the Anti-terrorism Act's motive clause on the grounds that it was unconstitutional. The clause, controversial from the moment it was introduced as draft legislation, defined a terrorist act as one committed "for a political, religious or ideological purpose, objective or cause."

"I was fortunate enough to be in the position where I could challenge it," says Mr. Greenspon. "It gave the right for police to investigate people on the basis of their religious, ideological or political beliefs, which we knew would be Muslim males aged 22 to 45.

"We've been down that road before in the name of security," he adds. "Let's target a particular group of people and put them in a camp -- the Italians, the Japanese Canadians -- or the FLQ and its sympathizers in the jails of Montreal. What we have now is a definition of terrorism that is a lot closer to the definitions in other western countries."

Mr. Greenspon has also lost a couple of key fights, notably in Federal Court against the government, which refused to allow him to see some "relevant evidence" against Mr. Khawaja either because of alleged national security concerns or because the evidence was given to Canada by foreign intelligence services on condition it remained secret.

It shocked Mr. Greenspon to lose that battle and it irks him still.

"It isn't right," he says. "Nobody before has ever tried to withhold relevant documents when somebody's liberty is at stake at a criminal trial in Canada."

Mr. Greenspon, born and raised in Montreal, was a civil libertarian before he became a lawyer.

"I learned a great deal," he says, "growing up with my stepfather, who is a survivor of (the Nazi concentration camp) Auschwitz. He became a second dad to my brother and me and taught us a healthy respect for the balance between state power and individual human rights."

Mr. Greenspon recalls marching with his stepfather each year with other survivors of Nazi oppression. He joined the national capital branch of the Canadian Civil Liberties Association when he moved to Ottawa to finish law school.

His mother and stepfather live in Florida, his father in Montreal.

"I was raised with three great parents who love me," he says. "It was one of those rare cases where the stepfather comes in and is great. I often find myself repeating things he said to me years ago. I tell him and he says 'I can't believe you remember that.' I say 'Dad, you only told me 50 times'."

Divorced, 54-year-old Mr. Greenspon has one daughter, 18-year-old Maja, and has lived for eight years with Ottawa artist Louise Carota.

The lawyer is heavily involved in Ottawa charities. In 1981, he co-founded the Resource Education Advocacy Centre for the Handicapped (REACH) to help disabled people with legal and education issues and, four years later, he was helping raise money for the Snowsuit Fund. He has also developed a reputation as an off-beat charity auctioneer and will preside over 20 or more auctions this fall and winter. In May, he was honoured as one of three United Way Community Builders of the Year. To unwind, he plays hockey several times each week, and old-timers soccer on Fridays.

"I love team sports," he says, "and it's terrific stress release. If I don't play sports for two or three days I feel it."

Mr. Greenspon is the public face of the Khawaja defence, but in wading through the complexities of the untested anti-terrorism legislation, he has informally consulted others.

"I've got friends -- people I talk to about the case from time to time," he says. "My close friends understand what I'm doing and why I'm doing defending Momin and I've heard from other lawyers -- acquaintances -- who have phoned or sent e-mails and said 'fight the good fight. What you're doing is in the best interests of our profession'."

Mr. Greenspon, who is being paid through legal aid, is guarded when he discusses Mr. Khawaja and says that despite their many meetings at the Ottawa-Carleton Regional Detention Centre, their conversations have been all business.

"He is a very serious, intelligent man," says Mr. Greenspon. "He has ideas, remembers things and gives me a lot of helpful information, but there have been mountains of evidence to go through and our time out there is precious. We talk about the evidence."

Mr. Greenspon is media friendly, to the point of holding scrums with reporters during the trial. It is, he says, deliberate.

"The combination of law and media can move mountains," he says. "It's important that the public knows what we're doing behind closed doors where obviously there are no cameras and no recording devices. So when I do scrums part of it is public education and also often I get good questions from the media that make me think. So it's a good sounding board."

Mr. Greenspon, significantly better versed in Islam and computer technology than he was four years ago, will open his defence tomorrow by asking Judge Rutherford to dismiss the charges against Mr. Khawaja.

He met with Mr. Khawaja on Saturday and they will meet again today to review final details of their strategy. With the end of the trial close, Mr. Greenspon says his client is calm and focused.

"He is in a situation he never anticipated being in and is managing to cope," says the lawyer. "It's been a long wait."

© The Ottawa Citizen 2008

Khawaja didn't know of London plot, lawyer says as terror trial resumes

Tim Shufelt, The Ottawa Citizen
Published: Tuesday, August 19, 2008
OTTAWA - Momin Khawaja may have wanted to wage violent jihad in Afghanistan, but he had no knowledge that the detonator he is accused of building was to be used in the foiled London fertilizer bomb plot, defence lawyer Lawrence Greenspon said as Mr. Khawaja's terrorism trial resumed Tuesday.

On that basis, Mr. Khawaja does not fit the criminal definition of a terrorist, Mr. Greenspon said.

"There is more than sufficient evidence of Momin Khawaja's intention to fight, to be a soldier," he said. "The fact that he didn't get to fight in Afghanistan doesn't really matter."

The trial of Mr. Khawaja, an Orléans computer programmer formerly under contract to Foreign Affairs, resumed with Mr. Greenspon asking for all seven terrorism charges to be quashed.

The Crown already argued that Mr. Khawaja built a remote detonator, dubbed the "hifidigimonster," for a British terror cell that wanted to blow up a number of potential targets, including a night club in central London, the largest shopping centre in Europe or the country's utilities grids.

Just before the trial adjourned for three weeks, however, the Crown broadened the allegations beyond the bomb plot to include violent jihad, Mr. Greenspon said. He called it an "unjust, unprecedented expansion."

In all of the tens of thousands of documents filed in the trial, the defence argued, "nowhere will there be any mention, any mention, of using the hifidigimonster in London, in the UK, or in any other western target," he said. "Faced with this evidence, the Crown has opted to expand its case to include 'violent jihad.'"

But the intention to provide support to a military combat situation is not even a crime, Mr. Greenspon added.

"Nowhere has any court been prepared to criminalize the desire to be a front-line soldier in another country."

The trial continues.

© The Ottawa Citizen 2008

Khawaja not part of London plot, defence argues

Tim Shufelt, The Ottawa Citizen
Published: Wednesday, August 20, 2008
OTTAWA - Members of a British terror cell deliberately withheld information from Momin Khawaja regarding their true intentions for the detonator he is accused of designing, according to the defence.

On Wednesday, defence lawyer Lawrence Greenspon pored through transcripts of conversations recorded by British Secret Service for evidence that Mr. Khawaja was kept in the dark by those convicted of plotting to detonate a massive fertilizer bomb in central London.

"There are subjects of conversation that take place when Mr. Khawaja is present and very different conversations taking place when he's not there," Mr. Greenspon said.

While Mr. Khawaja was in London in 2004, they discussed training camps in Pakistan, acquiring military equipment, night vision goggles and the best types of outdoor gear, Mr. Greenspon said.

After he left, however, the conversations turned to "physical jihad" and "operations" on British soil, he added.
"The best thing you can do is put terror in their hearts," said Jawad Akbar, one of the British men convicted of the bomb plot.

They discussed potential targets, including night clubs and utilities. And they considered conducting a test explosion of a small-scale bomb.
"We don't want to mix too many things together," Omar Khyam was recorded as saying. "One cell goes down it does not affect the other cell."

Mr. Greenspon also noted that the type of detonator designed by Mr. Khawaja, rather than the more conventional cellphone-based technology, was best suited for a place like Afghanistan that has spotty reception.

"The types of activities he did participate in were the types of activities that line up exactly with his intent, that is, to be a frontline jihadi soldier," Mr. Greenspon said.

The only piece of evidence submitted by the Crown, in fact, that indicates Mr. Khawaja might be sympathetic to striking at civilian targets, is an e-mail he wrote to his ex-fiancée Zeba Khan describing 9/11-scale attacks as "the most effective and honourable way" of defeating the West.

"It's troublesome," Mr. Greenspon said. "It's an e-mail which can be characterized as rhetoric from an angry man. It's out of character, according to Zeba Khan, and not indicative of his true intentions."

© The Ottawa Citizen 2008

Insurgency argument no defence for Khawaja, Crown argues

Ian MacLeod, The Ottawa Citizen
Published: Tuesday, August 26, 2008
OTTAWA - Momin Khawaja's defence that he planned to fight with insurgents in Afghanistan - not participate in an Islamist plot to bomb London - is still a terrorist crime under Canadian law, a federal Crown told the Khawaja trial today.

Further, an exception under the Anti-terrorism Act of 2001 that excludes acts that otherwise would be considered terrorism if they are committed during an "armed conflict" does not apply to Mr. Khawaja, Crown prosecutor David McKercher told the court.

"In order to qualify, at the very least, Mr. Khawaja would have to be in Afghanistan, ideally a member of a properly constituted army.

" In this case, Mr. Khawaja was not (there) during the commission of his acts."

 

[daftandbarmy]

Egads.

As important as a strong defence establishment in the defeat of a terrorist campaign is the development of a strong system of unassailable legislation which can be used to jail the evil doers quickly, and for extremely long periods of time. One without the other is a waste of time and lives, IMHO.

 

[George Wallace]

Reproduced under the Fair Dealings provisions of the Copyright Act.  Link to Article in Title.


Three men convicted in 2006 U.K. bomb plot

A London jury has found three men guilty of conspiring to kill people using homemade liquid explosives.

CTV.ca News Staff


However, after 50 hours of deliberations the jury couldn't agree on whether the men intended to use the bombs on planes.

The jurors had been told by prosecutors that the plotters planned to kill thousands of people by smuggling liquid explosives onto jetliners leaving Heathrow airport, then to detonate them while in the air.

At least seven airliners bound for Canada and the U.S. from the U.K. were included in the plot, according to prosecutors.

Abdulla Ahmed Ali, Assad Sarwar and Tanvir Hussain were all found guilty of conspiring to kill "persons unknown."

The men argued they didn't intend to kill, but intended to carry out a bloodless attack that would attract attention to their cause -- anger over British and American involvement in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Evidence shown during the trial included suicide videos of the men saying he intended to carry out attacks.

The three men convicted Monday were among eight British Muslims accused of taking part in the plot.

The jury failed to come to a verdict on four other defendants. An eighth was found not guilty.

CTV's London Bureau Chief Tom Kennedy said it is unclear whether legal proceedings will continue against the four defendants.

"The major question mark is still what does the prosecution service do now. There are still four individuals the jury was not able to reach a verdict on, so it's quite possible the whole legal process into this really enormous terror investigation may not be over yet," Kennedy told CTV Newsnet.

The uncovering of the plot in August 2006 caused chaos in airports around the world with tough new restrictions put in place over the amount of liquid passengers could bring on board.

Many of those restrictions are still in place

 

[George Wallace]

Reproduced under the Fair Dealings provisions of the Copyright Act.  Link to Article in Title.

Judge rejects bid to have Khawaja case thrown out
Updated: Mon Sep. 08 2008 14:07:13

The Canadian Press

OTTAWA — A judge dealt a setback to accused terrorist Momin Khawaja on Monday by refusing to toss out the charges against him.

Justice Douglas Rutherford said the Crown has presented enough evidence against the Ottawa software developer for the high-profile trial to continue.

Khawaja, arrested four years ago, faces seven charges of financing and facilitating terrorism.

It includes the key allegation he built a remote-control device, dubbed the Hi-Fi Digimonster, to trigger explosions planned by Islamic extremists in Britain. He also stands accused of participating in terrorist training and meetings, and making a house owned by his family in Pakistan available for terrorist use.

Khawaja, who has pleaded not guilty to all charges, is being tried in Ontario Superior Court without a jury.

Defence lawyer Lawrence Greenspon asked the judge to throw the case out in a motion argued last month, saying the Crown has not made a strong enough argument to support the charges.

Rutherford said Monday there is sufficient evidence on the record for a properly instructed jury to find Khawaja guilty "on any or all of the counts" -- the appropriate legal test of Greenspon's motion even though the judge alone is hearing the case.

Indeed, a jury might reasonably conclude Khawaja "was a knowing participant" in a plot to explode devices in the United Kingdom, Rutherford said.

Five alleged co-conspirators were convicted last year in Britain of plotting to bomb targets that included a nightclub, shopping centre and gas and electrical facilities.

The prosecution's star witness, Mohammed Babar, a former al-Qaida 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.

Evidence gathered by the British security agency MI-5 indicated Khawaja visited people involved in the British plot and discussed remote-control technology with them.

The RCMP says it later found the Digimonster in a raid on the Khawaja family home in suburban Ottawa and enough components to suggest Khawaja may have been planning to build more devices.

There has also been testimony that Khawaja used an Ottawa-area woman, Zenab Armandpisheh, as a go-between to funnel money to co-conspirators in Britain.

In email exchanges with Zeba Khan, his former fiancee, Khawaja boasted of his devotion to jihadi activities and indicated his support for the 9/11 attacks in the United States.

Khan said she considered it just talk and couldn't believe Khawaja was actually involved in terrorist activity.

Greenspon has suggested, during his previous cross-examination of Crown witnesses, that Khawaja attended the training camp in Pakistan because he was toying with the idea of going to fight western forces in Afghanistan -- not to bomb civilian targets in Britain.

Rutherford said Monday that to characterize Khawaja's actions as preparation simply for battlefield jihad "is to view the evidence too narrowly."

"It obviously included the making and testing of explosives."

Greenspon has also suggested the Digimonster was intended for use in Afghanistan, if anywhere. He has challenged the technical analysis done by the RCMP and noted that many of the components they seized were found in the bedroom of Momin's brother Qasim, who does not face charges.

Outside the courtroom, Greenspon put a brave face on Rutherford's decision, saying the evidentiary threshold necessary for the trial to continue was rather low. He argued there's a "significantly higher standard" of proof for his client to be found guilty of the charges.

Greenspon's effort to get the charges thrown out, technically known as a motion of non-suit, is a common defence tactic. It essentially calls on the judge to conclude there isn't enough evidence to continue and to acquit the accused.

The defence was to decide Monday whether to call witnesses and make additional arguments when proceedings resume Tuesday.

Greenspon has refused to say whether he would call Khawaja to testify -- a move that would open him to cross-examination by the prosecution.

He indicated Khawaja was fully aware of the importance of Monday's ruling. "I can't imagine he's anything but disappointed."

 

[daftandbarmy]

UK 1 - Bad Guys 0

Canada - remains to be seen I guess, but I'm pretty happy with the British results regardless. Well done chaps!

Bring them to justice or bring justice to them.

 

[George Wallace]

Some updates on the Terrorism Trial in Ottawa related to these attacks (Links in yellow):

Reproduced under the Fair Dealings provisions of the Copyright Act.

Khawaja closing arguments wrap up

Updated: Sat Sep. 13 2008 12:18:52

The Canadian Press

Defence lawyer Lawrence Greenspon told terror suspect Momin Khawaja's trial that Canadian anti-terrorism laws must be applied in a just way.

In concluding arguments Friday in Ottawa, Greenspon acknowledged Khawaja sent an email in 2003 in which he expressed approval of the September 11 attacks.

But he said Khawaja can't be found guilty simply for his views or the company he keeps.

The 29-year old software developer was arrested four years ago in Ottawa and faces seven charges of financing and facilitating terrorism.

They include the key accusation he built a remote-control device to trigger blasts planned by Islamic extremists in the United Kingdom.

Five of Khawaja's alleged co-conspirators were earlier convicted in London.

The case is seen as a key test of the anti-terrorist laws Ottawa enacted after the 9-11 attacks.

Justice Douglas Rutherford says he'll deliver his ruling October 29th.

=====================================================================================


Khawaja aimed to 'destroy' West: Crown

Ian MacLeod , Canwest News Service
Published: Tuesday, September 09, 2008
OTTAWA - Momin Khawaja intended to "bring death and destruction to the West," the prosecution charged in its closing address Tuesday after the defence elected not to call Khawaja to testify at his terrorism trial.

"He vowed to become the West's mortal enemy . . . to prosecute his own private war," armed with the virulent ideology of master terrorist Osama bin Laden, federal Crown lawyer David McKercher said during his daylong closing remarks.

Outside court later, defence lawyer Lawrence Greenspon said he chose to present no evidence because prosecution testimony and other Crown evidence - most of which he consented to without argument - suggests Khawaja, 29, wanted to join Muslim insurgents in Afghanistan, not become an urban terrorist.

"Most of the evidence of what took place is not and has never been at issue," Greenspon said. "The essence of the defence has already been put forward through the mouths of the Crown witnesses."

None of the five prosecution witnesses to testify since the trial began June 23 offered any direct evidence linking Khawaja to a foiled 2004 plot by a British terrorism cell to bomb public sites in and around London. That, Greenspon has argued, was because his client's actions and statements in support of an Islamic Jihad were in relation to fighting in Afghanistan, not targeting London or other Western sites.

A key Crown allegation that his client was building a radio-frequency device dubbed a "Hi-Fi Digimonster" to remotely detonate a fertilizer bomb or bombs around London was, in fact, intended to trigger improvised explosive devices against NATO-led troops in Afghanistan, he said.

But McKercher Tuesday said there is an abundance of circumstantial evidence - including dozens of Khawaja's own hate-filled e-mails proclaiming armed jihad against the West - that proves the Ottawa man is guilty not only of participating in the London plot, but of facilitating and financing the British group to launch other attacks against Western targets.

In addition to the Hi-Fi Digimonster seized by police from Khawaja's home, McKercher said the evidence includes: testimony from al-Qaida informer Mohammed Babar that Khawaja helped finance the operation to bomb a London nightclub; the convictions in Britain last year of Khawaja's five co-conspirators in the bomb plot; his own e-mails describing jihad against the West; three military-style assault rifles, 640 rounds of ammunition and $10,000 in cash found by police in his family's Ottawa home.

As well, McKercher cited a 2003 trip to a Pakistan terror training camp; a trip to meet the British conspirators in February 2004 to show off the Hi-Fi Digimonster; e-mails in which Khawaja discussed ways to smuggle the device into the United Kingdom; the presence of Mohammed Sidique Khan, ringleader of the 2005 London transit suicide bombings, at the Pakistan camp and at the home of one British conspirators at the same time Khawaja was in England; and Khawaja's recruiting of an Ottawa-area woman he used to funnel money to the British group.

"On the evidence, the Crown would submit that there is no doubt at all," Khawaja is guilty, McKercher told the court. "It was his intention to bring death and destruction to the West."

© Ottawa Citizen 2008


More at the Ottawa Citizen
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[George Wallace]

Reproduced under the Fair Dealings provisions of the Copyright Act. 

Khawaja appeals terrorism conviction

LINK           

The first person sentenced under Canada's Anti-terrorism Act, Mohammad Momin Khawaja, will appeal his conviction, says his lawyer.


10/04/2009 8:31:38 AM


Lawrence Greenspon served notice Thursday asking the Ontario Court of Appeal to overturn a finding that his client aided a group of British extremists.

Greenspon told the Associated Press there were gaps in the Crown's evidence during the Ottawa trial.

"The judge was aware of them, made a decision despite them, and that's one of the grounds for the appeal," he said.

Greenspon suggested the groundbreaking nature of the case meant the legal terrain was not well defined.

"Our trial judge, of course, was dealing with many of these issues for the first time in a Canadian courtroom, and it wasn't easy. It was very challenging."

Khawaja 'fully involved' in appeal decision

Khawaja, sentenced in March, is serving 10½ years for financing and facilitating terrorism at a Quebec prison.

Greenspon said Khawaja was "fully involved" in the decision to appeal.

The 2001 act was pushed through Parliament following the Sept. 11 attacks in the United States.

The 29-year-old Ottawa software developer was convicted last year of five charges of financing and facilitating terrorism for training at a remote camp in Pakistan and providing cash to a group of British extremists, as well as offering them lodging and other assistance.

He was also convicted of two Criminal Code offences, but not any anti-terrorism provisions, related to building a remote-control device to set off explosions. The Crown failed to prove Khawaja knew the trigger would be used in a plot to detonate fertilizer bombs in London.

In the ruling, Justice Douglas Rutherford of Ontario Superior Court called Khawaja "a willing and eager participant" in jihadist schemes aimed at sowing mayhem.

'Unreasonable verdict'

The notice of appeal contends that the terrorism charges should not have gone to trial once the court found a key element of the legal definition of terrorism violated a person's rights to freedom of expression, religion and association.

"In terms of the convictions, our position is that the judge, having struck out the heart of the terrorism definition, he should have proceeded to quash the charges. We shouldn't have proceeded at all on those charges," Greenspon said.

The notice of appeal argues the judge reached an "unreasonable verdict" in finding that Khawaja knew his British associates were a terrorist group. It also says the sentence was too harsh because Khawaja was not afforded the customary two-for-one credit for the five years he spent behind bars from the time of his arrest to the conviction.

The Crown is expected to say Tuesday whether it will cross-appeal.

Arrested in March 2004, Khawaja has spent almost five years in jail while his trial and sentencing played out. He pleaded not guilty and was tried without a jury.

Khawaja was born in Ottawa and moved with his family to Libya, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia before returning to Canada.

He obtained a college diploma in computer programming in 2001 and was working on a software project for the Foreign Affairs Department at the time of his arrest.

Throughout the case, the defence had argued Khawaja was a peripheral figure in the British-based plot to detonate targets around London. British police and security forces broke up the plot before any bombs were planted.

The five men were convicted by a British jury and received life sentences with no parole for at least 17 years.

With files from The Canadian Press

 

[Yrys]

Canadian appeals UK plot ruling

Khawaja's sentence was excessive,
his lawyer argues

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 fertiliser bomb plot in Britain and sentenced to 10 years and six months.
He was found guilty in October 2008 by a judge in Ontario. He was tried without a jury. Legal
experts regarded the trial as a test of Canada's anti-terror laws.

Five British Muslims of Pakistani descent are serving life sentences after being convicted in
London in 2007.

Khawaja's lawyer, Lawrence Greenspon, filed the appeal in Ontario, arguing that there were gaps
in the prosecution's evidence, AP reported. Khawaja's appeal will be based on Justice Douglas
Rutherford's acceptance that authorities could not prove beyond reasonable doubt that he was
fully aware of the plot.

'Hi-fi digimonster'

Software developer Khawaja, who had denied all seven charges related to terrorism and explosives
use, was arrested in March 2004 in a joint UK-Canadian operation and was accused of planning to
attack the UK.

The judge ruled in October that he had knowingly participated in the foiled plot against several British
targets, including a shopping centre, nightclub and the gas network. As well as five terrorism offences,
he was also found guilty of two separate criminal charges of having worked on a device to activate
a bomb detonator and possessing an explosive substance.

The court was earlier told he had been part of a plan to detonate a 600kg bomb which would have
caused "massive" loss of life. Khawaja designed a remote bomb detonator which he called the "hi-fi
digimonster", prosecutors said. He was also accused of attending a paramilitary training camp
in Pakistan.

In February 2004, Khawaja appeared on the radar of the security services who already had the British
fertiliser bomb plot conspirators under surveillance. When he arrived at Heathrow airport he was met
by Omar Khyam - one of the Britons convicted last year - who was under surveillance from specialist
counter-terrorism officers.

One of the surveillance officers told the British plot trial they had no idea who the Canadian was,
or what his role was in the plot. But as Khyam drove off in his four-wheel drive vehicle, the officers
listening in heard him and the Canadian discuss a remote-controlled device designed to trigger the
bomb the men were planning.

The new Canadian law gives the government wider powers to keep intelligence information secret
on national security grounds and limits defendants' access to evidence used against them.


Also on Momin Khawaja    :

Anti-terrorism squads raid Ottawa homes, army.ca thread
Khawaja: The Canadian connection, BBC News article, 12 March 2009

 

[mariomike]

Update.
BBC 6 May 2011
"Emergency delays 'did not cause deaths': Delays in the emergency services' response to the 7/7 London bombings did not cause the death of any of the 52 people killed, the coroner has said.
But in concluding the inquests into the deaths, Lady Justice Hallett criticised lapses by emergency services
She made nine recommendations that aim to "save lives", and said no further inquiries, or inquests on the bombers, were needed.":
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-13308371

"There should be a review of procedures for telling emergency services that the power in Underground tunnels has been switched off, and that it is safe to go onto the tracks."

The inquests heard that over at Edgware Road, Assistant Divisional Officer Alan Davies, then head of Paddington fire station, refused to allow his men into the tunnel because of the possibility of a dirty bomb.
"He accepted that evidence showed that police officers and paramedics went into the tunnel before specialist officers had chance to establish whether or not there was a CBRN risk."

"How well did the 7/7 emergency services respond?: One of the key questions at the heart of the 7 July inquests is whether the emergency services could have responded faster and better.":
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-12636731

"But in the closing days of the inquests, the coroner heard about "organised chaos" and shortcomings at the ambulance service's disaster control room at Waterloo."

"Emergency planners should review the inter-agency training for front line staff, particularly with reference to the Underground system."

"staff should be told that performing triage does not prevent them giving immediate or basic medical treatment"

Over use of emergency services "jargon" was discussed.

"Some of these problems dated back to the horrific King's Cross fire of 1987."

"Why did many not stop to help?:
    The reason why some people act and many do not is called "bystander apathy"
    The first element to it is diffusion of responsibility - people without medical training tell themselves they do not know how to deal with the situation and walk past. Also, as others are not taking any action, there is a pressure on them to be like everyone else and do nothing.
    The other element is "what's in it for me?" - this might take up my time, I might be injured or go unrewarded for my efforts.
    Exceptions tend to be nurses, paramedics, first aiders who feel able to use their skills, the altruistic, the empathetic and those who know they will be overwhelmed by guilt if they walk away."
As explained by psychologist Professor Helen Cowie