OTTAWA - Momin Khawaja undoubtedly wanted to fight for the Islamic cause in Afghanistan, but he never intended to bomb civilians in Britain, says his defence lawyer.
Lawrence Greenspon acknowledged Tuesday in Ontario Superior Court that there's "ample evidence" Khawaja took weapons training with a view to becoming a "frontline jihad soldier" in the battle against western forces in Afghanistan.
He also acknowledged that his client developed a remote-control device, dubbed the Hi-Fi Digimonster, that was capable of being used to set off explosives.
But he insisted the Digimonster, too, was designed for use against military targets in Afghanistan -- not for a homemade fertilizer bomb being constructed by others in Britain.
"There is no direct evidence that Momin Khawaja had any knowledge of the London fertilizer bomb plot," Greenspon told Justice Douglas Rutherford, who is hearing the case without a jury.
Greenspon maintained that the London plotters -- although they had frequent contact with Khawaja -- never let him in on their plans to mount attacks in Britain.
"They kept their information close and they didn't share it."
The comments came as Greenspon presented a motion demanding that Rutherford quash the terrorism charges facing his client on grounds that the prosecution has failed to produce enough evidence to substantiate the allegations.
Khawaja, an Ottawa software developer, faces seven charges under the Anti-Terrorism Act, including a key allegation that he built the so-called Digimonster.
He's also accused of financing and facilitating terrorism, participating in terrorist training and meetings, and making a house owned by his family in Pakistan available for terrorist use.
Five alleged co-conspirators were convicted last year in Britain of plotting to bomb targets that included a nightclub, shopping centre and gas and electrical facilities. But Khawaja has pleaded not guilty to all the charges facing him in Canada.
Greenspon has hinted, in previous cross-examination of Crown witnesses, that his defence would be to claim Khawaja had his eye on potential operations in Afghanistan, rather than in Britain.
But the session Tuesday was the first time the defence has laid out its theory in such detail.
Greenspon was vague in court about exactly who Khawaja wanted to fight against in Afghanistan, or who the targets could be for homemade bombs to be detonated there by the Digimonster.
He referred at one point to targeting Northern Alliance soldiers and also mentioned U.S. troops.
Pressed later by reporters outside the courtroom, Greenspon acknowledged the potential targets could have included Canadian troops, as well.
The targets would be any opponents of the Islamic insurgents fighting foreign forces, said the defence lawyer. "It does include Canadian and it also includes American soldiers."
It could conceivably be an offence under the Criminal Code to design explosives in Canada for use against Canadians and their military allies abroad, Greenspon conceded. But that's not the offence Khawaja is charged with, nor does it fit the legal definition of terrorism, he said.
The prosecution has yet to offer a reply to the latest assertions by the defence.
But in five weeks of testimony that concluded last month, prosecutors produced a wealth of evidence in an effort to justify the charges against Khawaja.
The prosecution's star witness, Mohammed Babar, a former al-Qaida operative turned police informer, testified that Khawaja attended a training camp in Pakistan in 2003.
He also claimed Khawaja acted as a courier to deliver money and supplies and discussed various potential operations.
Evidence gathered by the British security agency MI-5 indicated Khawaja visited people involved in the British bomb plot in 2004 and discussed remote-control technology with them.
The RCMP says it later found the Digimonster in a raid on the Khawaja family home in suburban Ottawa, and enough components to suggest Khawaja may have been planning to build more devices.
There has also been testimony that Khawaja used an Ottawa-area woman, Zenab Armandpisheh, as a go-between to funnel money to co-conspirators in Britain.
In email exchanges with Zeba Khan, his former fiancee, Khawaja boasted of his devotion to jihadi activities and indicated his support for the 9/11 attacks in the United States. But Khan said she considered it just talk and couldn't believe Khawaja was actually involved in terrorist activity.
