Terror Trial Begins in Canada

For the first time, a Canadian will be charged under the federal anti-terrorism act. Momin Khawaja, 29, who was arrested 4 years ago for alledgely helping a Pakistani terror cell to blow up a nightclub in England. Khawaja could face a maximium life sentence if convicted. Canada should think about bringing back the death penalty. CTV

The charges allege that he worked in collaboration with a group of British Muslims of Pakistani descent to bomb a London nightclub, among other targets. Khawaja was named as a co-conspirator but was not charged in the U.K.

Heavy security will surround the trial, which is of key significance to federal anti-terror laws created in the aftermath of the 9/11 terror attacks.

The case is seen as a key test for the Crown, which is poised to lay out evidence against Khawaja that has been gathered by the RCMP and CSIS, as well as evidence believed to originate from intelligence agencies in Britain.

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Khawaja's lawyer Lawrence Greenspon has spent much of his time on the case mounting constitutional challenges to the Anti-Terrorism Act.

"He's the first person charged under the act and certainly we've taken the approach that the law itself, the process of evidence being disclosed, all of that has to be challenged and now we're at the trial and we're certainly going to be trying to meet the Crown's case," he told CTV's Canada AM on Monday.

Greenspon said virtually every step taken by the defence has been a first, since Khawaja is the first suspect to go to trial under the anti-terror law.

He has received much of the Crown's evidence, but some evidence has been withheld on national security grounds.

The defence won a victory in 2006, when Justice Douglas Rutherford -- who will preside over the juryless trial -- struck down part of the law that defined terrorism as an offence motivated by religious, political or ideological consideration.

Rutherford ruled that the provision violated the Charter of Rights, but he severed the offending provisions from the rest of the law and did not strike down the entire act.