In this courtroom sketch, Mohammad Momin Khawaja is seen attending his sentencing hearing in Ottawa on March 12. (Tammy Hoy/Canadian Press)

The federal government is appealing the sentence of Mohammad Momin Khawaja — the first person charged under Canada's anti-terrorism laws.

The Public Prosecution Service of Canada filed its leave to appeal Tuesday at a courthouse in Toronto.

In March, Khawaja was sentenced to 10½ years in prison, plus time served, after his conviction on five charges of financing and facilitating terrorism and two Criminal Code offences.

He was ordered to serve at least five years before having any chance of parole.

Khawaja faced the possibility of a life sentence for at least one of the charges.

Details of the Crown's appeal have not yet been released, but a spokesman for the prosecution said the government intends to ask for a stiffer sentence.

The Crown had sought two life sentences plus an additional sentence of 44-58 years, while the defence had recommended 7½ years with double credit for time already served.

Khawaja, a 29-year-old Ottawa software developer, was convicted in 2008 of financing and facilitating terrorism for training at a camp in Pakistan and providing cash to a group of British extremists, as well as offering them lodging and other assistance.

His Criminal Code convictions related to building a remote-control device to set off explosions. The Crown failed to prove that Khawaja knew the device would be used by the extremists in a plot to detonate fertilizer bombs in London.

At his sentencing hearing, Judge Douglas Rutherford called Khawaja "a willing and eager participant" in a terrorist scheme. The judge said that in determining the sentence, he took into account the nearly five years Khawaja had already spent behind bars.

Rutherford said Khawaja's decision not to speak to the court during his trial or sentencing hearing made it hard to know whether he had any remorse for his actions.