British bomb plot was Khawaja's focus, prosecutor says

The main focus of Mohammad Momin Khawaja's activities was a plot to set off fertilizer bombs in Britain, not some other scheme for waging jihad, the prosecution at Khawaja's terrorism trial argued Wednesday.

In closing arguments, Crown attorney David McKercher said the Ottawa software developer was intent on helping his co-conspirators in London four years ago.

"Much of the evidence in this case is direct and compelling," McKercher told an Ontario Superior Court.

Defence lawyer Lawrence Greenspon is slated to deliver his final address on Friday, with the trial expected to conclude no later than early next week.

Greenspon has argued that Khawaja had no direct knowledge of the London plot since the plotters talked about the assault only in Khawaja's absence and that he attended a training camp in Pakistan for the purpose of going to fight Western forces in Afghanistan — not to bomb civilian targets in Britain.

On Wednesday, McKercher wrapped up a detailed summary of evidence — including e-mails, electronic intercepts and items seized at the Khawaja family home — presented to the court over five weeks this summer.

He suggested Justice Douglas Rutherford need only look at Khawaja's statements in those messages and conversations to see the merit of the Crown's case.

"His own words and his own writings provide a roadmap for where he was going," McKercher said. "It's his own words that condemn him."

Khawaja, 29, was arrested in 2004 and faces seven charges of financing and facilitating terrorism. If convicted, he could be sentenced to life in prison.

The case is widely seen as an important test of Canada's Anti-Terrorism Act, quickly ushered in following the Sept. 11 attacks on New York and Washington D.C. that took place seven years ago Thursday.

Ruling could come during election campaign

Rutherford has indicated it will be a few weeks before his judgment, which leaves open the possibility the ruling could land with a resounding thud during the federal election campaign.

The key accusation is that Khawaja built a remote-control device, dubbed the Hi-Fi Digimonster, to trigger explosions planned by Islamic extremists in Britain. Five conspirators, including ringleader Omar Khyam, were convicted in London and sentenced last year to life behind bars.

McKercher told the court the group of plotters carefully considered possible targets, looking for the "perfect hit" to help their cause.

He pointed to intercepts of discussions between Khyam and others as they tried to zero in on a target. The possibilities were said to include a nightclub, shopping centre and electric and gas facilities, but the plan was foiled by authorities.

"There's nothing haphazard about any of this. It's almost a political debate," McKercher said. "They're looking for the perfect hit in the circumstances."

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

Evidence gathered by British intelligence agency MI-5 indicated Khawaja visited people involved in the U.K. scheme and discussed remote-control technology with them.

Plotters' target was London, not Afghanistan

McKercher tried to dismiss suggestions the group was planning attacks in Afghanistan rather than London. He noted the British plotters had obtained and stored a large quantity of fertilizer in the London area, saying there was no way they would load it into backpacks and carry it over the Khyber Pass.

"That was never going to happen."

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 e-mail exchanges with Zeba Khan, his former fiancée, Khawaja boasted of his devotion to jihadi activities and signalled his support for the 9-11 attacks in the United States, although Khan said she considered it just the idle talk of an angry young Muslim.

McKercher said Khawaja's correspondence with Khan illustrates his mindset. "Everything in his life, even marriage, has to make room for jihad," the lawyer said.

At times Wednesday, Rutherford lost patience with the prosecution, wondering what point McKercher was trying to make and chiding him for going into minute detail about the mechanics of the explosive detonators, already presented during the trial.

"I thought it was excessive at the time," Rutherford said.