Momin Khawaja

Born in Ottawa, Ontario, to Pakistani immigrants Azra and Mahboob who had moved to Canada in 1967, Khawaja lived in Saudi Arabia with his family (ages 9–14), before moving back to Ottawa, where he attended Sir Wilfrid Laurier Secondary School and graduated in January 1998. ==Career==

Following graduation, he entered a 3-year computer program at Algonquin College, and became more religious and began teaching youth at the Cumberland mosque. His April 2001 graduation led to a placement in the Gatineau office of HRDC. In January 2002, Khawaja took a 3-month trip to stay with his uncle in Pakistan while looking for a potential wife. It was later alleged that this trip had been meant to join the Taliban. Upon returning unsuccessful, he took a job as a contracted software developer for the Department of Foreign Affairs. ==Terrorist activities==

In summer 2003, the 24-year-old Khawaja began visiting paintball and pellet gun ranges with friends, signing in at the desk with pseudonyms. One friend, Younes Lasfar, got Khawaja to store two rifles and some ammunition at his house, and Khawaja complies, storing them under his bed. In October, Khawaja flew to Pakistan, and is alleged to have met with Khyam who gave him a medical kit, invisible ink set, cell phone SIM cards and cash, which he allegedly brought to Abu Munthir in Pakistan. On October 19, Khawaja sent an email to Mohammed Junaid Babar, stating; "I will start on the remote devices thing right away and will let u know once we have it ready for testing and i find some of the things for testing. Urea, nitro phosphate, anything else we need?". During this time, Khawaja also began corresponding with Zeba Khan after reading her articles on the internet, and arranged to once again travel to Pakistan to meet her, going out to dinner with her and Babar. On October 29, Khan announced that she was engaged to Khawaja, though later the couple decide to cancel the marriage but remain friends. Prosecutors allege that the following month, the British-based group and Khawaja began discussing potential explosives to be used in the service of "jihad". ==Arrest, trial and sentencing==

Khawaja was arrested on March 29, 2004, while his father was teaching at a university in Saudi Arabia, as part of a month-long sting operation entitled Operation Awaken that saw eight others, all of Pakistani heritage, arrested. Ultimately five were convicted in London courts, and two were acquitted, while Babar agreed to testify against the others in exchange for full immunity for himself. The initial two charges against Khawaja were boosted to seven counts, following Babar's telling of events, and a publication ban prevented the media from reporting on details revealed during legal hearings. The trial began on June 23, 2008, heard by Superior Court judge Douglas Rutherford, prosecuted by David McKercher. On October 29, 2008, he was found guilty on all charges by Justice Rutherford. On March 12, 2009, at his sentencing hearing, Rutherford sentenced Khawaja to 10.5 years in addition to the five years already served. Khawaja would be eligible for parole in five years. ==Issues and appeal==

Greenspon, Khawaja’s lawyer, said a major problem comes when police launch investigations into whether someone might be a terrorist simply because of their religious or political beliefs. However, Federal prosecutor Nicholas Devlin argued that people do not develop prejudices against members of particular religions because of Criminal Code provisions such as the motive clause, which does not mention Muslims or any other group by name. "It is completely neutral," Devlin told the court. "This legislation would apply to someone who bombed Dr. (Henry) Morgentaler’s [abortion] clinic for some unknown reason. It would apply to [Oklahoma City bomber] Timothy McVeigh. It would apply to Islamic extremists." The Canadian Government appealed the sentencing, asking for a longer sentence. The Supreme Court reviewed the Khawaja case to examine the constitutionality of the definition of "terrorist activity" in the criminal code. The main issue focuses on the motive clause, which states that terrorist activity is that committed, "in whole or in part for a political, religious or ideological purpose, objective or cause." At Khawaja’s trial, Rutherford ruled that the motive provision was unconstitutional, but still ordered the trial to proceed. The appeal was won by the Crown and the court increased Khawaja sentence to life in prison. He is unlikely to get parole as long as he is housed in a supermax prison. Khawaja was held at the Special Handling Unit at Sainte-Anne-des-Plaines Prison in Quebec. He has been there since 2009 and has been kept in segregation. He since then has moved to Bath Institution where he is chairman of the lifers group ==References==