Mohammad Khawaja

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Mohammad Momin Khawaja (born April 14, 1979, Ottawa) was the first Canadian charged under the national Anti-terrorism Act.

[edit] Personal life

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

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.^[1]

In January 2002, Khawaja took a 3-month trip to stay with his uncle in Pakistan while looking for a potential wife. Upon returning unsuccessful, he took a job as a contracted software operator for the Department of Foreign Affairs.

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, gets Khawaja to store two rifles and some ammunition at his house, and Khawaja complies, storing them under his bed.^[2]

During this time, Khawaja also began corresponding with Zeba Khan after reading her articles on the internet, and arranges to once again travel to Pakistan to meet her, going out to dinner with her and Mohammed Junaid Babar, the latter being arrested on charges of supporting terrorism 3 years later. On October 29, Khan announces that she is engaged to Khawaja, though later the couple decide to cancel the marriage but remain friends.^[3]

[edit] Allegations and Arrest

Two weeks after the engagement announcement, Khawaja is alleged to have begun helping a group of Pakistani bombers plot an attack against London, England.

On February 20, Khawaja travelled to London and was picked up at the airport by two men, including Omar Khayam.

He was arrested March 29, 2004 as part of a sting operation that saw eight others, all of Pakistani heritage, arrested.^[4]

[edit] References

v • d • e Alleged Canadian Militants in the War on Terrorism Khadr family Ahmed Said Khadr and Maha Elsamnah, Zaynab, Abdullah, Abdurahman, Omar, Abdulkareem 2006 Toronto terrorism arrests Steven Chand, Shareef Abdelhaleem, Jahmaal James, Mohammed Dirie, Fahim Ahmad, Asad Ansari, Zakaria Amara, Amin Durrani, Saad Khalid, two young offenders with unreleased names Montreal Millennium Plot Ahmed Ressam, Fateh Kamel, Ahcene Zemiri Alleged al-Qaeda members Ahmed Said Khadr, Amer el-Maati, Mohammed Mansour Jabarah, Faker Boussora, Mohamedou Ould Slahi, Mohammed and Abdul Rahman Jabarah, Canadians in the Afghan Insurgency Ahmed Said Khadr, Mohammed Warsame Canadians in the Iraqi Insurgency Saeed and Masoud Rasoul, Abu Abdul Rahman, Hassan Farhat, Aumar Alsorani Canadians in Chechnya Rudwan Khalil Detained on Security Certificates Mahmoud Jaballah, Mohammad Zeki Mahjoub, Hassan Almrei, Mohamed Harkat, Adil Charkaoui, Manickavasagam Suresh Other Abdullah Almalki, Bashir Makhtal, Arwad al-Boushi, Kassem Daher, Mustafa Krer, Momin Khawaja Wrongly Accused Maher Arar, Ahmad Abou El-Maati, Muayyed Nureddin, Qayyum Jamal, Yasim Mohamed, Ahmad Ghany, three young offenders with unreleased names, Sohail Qureshi, Abdellah Ouzghar