Canadian had links to London transit bombings, court told

Last Updated: Monday, April 30, 2007 | 9:47 PM ET

CBC News

A Canadian named as a co-conspirator in the British fertilizer bomb plot is alleged to have links to the suicide bombers who carried out the deadly London transit bombings in 2005, court was told Monday.

Momin Khawaja's alleged links to the transit bombings were revealed Monday as five British citizens were sentenced to life in prison for planning to build and detonate fertilizer bombs at shopping malls, nightclubs and other targets around London in March 2004.

Terrorist suspect Momin Khawaja leaves an Ottawa courthouse on May 3, 2004, under RCMP protection. Khawaja was arrested in connection with a crackdown on an alleged terror ring in England.
(Tom Hanson/Canadian Press)

Khawaja, an Ottawa software developer, was named as an unindicted co-conspirator in the fertilizer bomb trial and is currently awaiting trial in Canada on terrorism charges.

Prosecutors allege that Khawaja was planning to design and build a remote detonator for the bombs for the 2004 attack plot.

He was arrested at his Ottawa home on March 29, 2004, the same day the British suspects were arrested during a series of raids around London.

On Monday, more allegations against Khawaja were made public. Prosecutors allege he attended an al-Qaeda training camp in Pakistan in 2003 with the mastermind of the London subway suicide bombings. Fifty-six people died when bombs went off on three subway trains and a bus on July 7, 2005.

Prosecutors also allege that the fertilizer bomb plotters met regularly with the subway bombers.

But Khawaja's lawyer, Lawrence Greenspon, downplayed any link between his client and the London transit attacks.

"There's no question that Mr. Khawaja was in jail at that time and could hardly be in contact or had anything to do with the people who were involved with that," Greenspon said from Ottawa on Monday.

Khawaja's trial was scheduled to start in May, but it's expected to be delayed by legal arguments.