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Canada prosecutors to appeal first sentence under new anti-terrorism act

By Bernard Hibbitts (editor) and University of Pittsburgh School of Law students.

[JURIST] The Public Prosecution Service of Canada on Tuesday sought leave to appeal the prison sentence of 10.5 years given to Mohammed Momin Khawaja, the first person to be charged and tried under the Anti-Terrorism Act, arguing that the sentence was too lenient. Khawaja was convicted in October of designing a remote detonator and providing other support to a group that was convicted in 2007 of planning to detonate a large fertilizer bomb. When Ontario Superior Court Justice Douglas Rutherford sentenced Khawaja in March, prosecutors asked that he be given more than two life sentences. Lawyers for Khawaja have also said they will appeal the sentence, arguing that it was too long, and that he should have been granted more credit for time served. Khawaja was found guilty of participating in a terrorist group, instructing a person to finance terrorism, making property available to terrorists, contributing to a terrorist group, and facilitating terrorism. In June, Khawaja pleaded not guilty to the charges and his lawyer said the allegations were exaggerated and based on hearsay evidence that should have been excluded. In 2007, Canadian Federal Court Judge Richard Mosley refused to require the release of confidential evidence against Khawaja, explaining that "disclosure of most of the information would be injurious to national security or to international relations." Khawaja was arrested in March 2004.

Full post as published by JURIST - The Paper Chase on April 15, 2009 (boomark / email).