Convicted terrorist Momin Khawaja denied full parole

The Ottawa-born man was handed a life sentence in connection with his role in an al-Qaida-inspired plot to bomb targets in the United Kingdom.

Published Jul 10, 2023 • 4 minute read

Momin Khawaja leaves the Ottawa courthouse Monday May 3, 2004 under Royal Canadian Mounted Police protection. Photo by Jason Ransom /Ottawa Sun

Ottawa’s Momin Khawaja, the first person convicted under Canada’s Anti-Terrorism Act, has lost his bid for full parole.

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The Parole Board of Canada denied Khawaja’s application in a recent decision, saying he still represents an “undue risk to society” even after spending more than 19 years behind bars.

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“Your current convictions are very serious as they are related to planned and widespread violence,” the parole board told Khawaja. “The nature of these offences suggests you have the potential to cause serious harm to many people should you return to your offence cycle, and re-offend.”

Khawaja, 44, has been in custody since March 2004 when he was arrested at Global Affairs Canada, where he worked on contract as a software developer. He was charged with seven terrorism-related offences.

The Ottawa man was later convicted on five counts and handed a life sentence in connection with his role in an al-Qaida-inspired plot to bomb targets in the United Kingdom. Five British men received life sentences in connection with the same plot to build and detonate fertilizer bombs.

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In what was Canada’s first major post-9/11 terrorism trial, federal prosecutors said Khawaja aided the foiled plot by building a radio-frequency device, dubbed the “Hi-Fi Digimonster,” to remotely detonate the bombs.

According to the parole board, Khawaja acknowledged for the first time during his June hearing that his device was capable of triggering a bomb blast.

“Previously, and as recently as your last board hearing, you denied this was its intended function,” the board said. “You also acknowledged that you were aware that you were contributing to terrorism or violence, which you previously denied.

“Tying these two things together, you indicated you were aware that the people you were associating with were likely to use the device for violent purposes, even if you were not specifically aware of any plans. This increased accountability marks an important turning point that will enable further progress.”

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A psychological risk assessment, conducted in November 2021, found that Khawaja remains in the moderate to high-risk category for committing another terrorism-related offence. He’s considered a low risk for any other kinds of crimes.

The parole board heard that Khawaja recently completed a sociology degree in prison, and has also studied Arabic and religion under the direction of an imam.

During his imprisonment, Khawaja has been involved in six security incidents, the board heard. Among other things, he threw a meal at a corrections officer, refused to comply with a direct order and exhibited aggressive behaviour toward staff.

“Some incidents required physical intervention and the use of chemical agents,” the board noted.

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The board said Khawaja’s behaviour improved after he was transferred to a new federal facility in March 2015. He was since moved to a medium-security prison and is now living in a “responsibility-based unit.”

Such units typically comprise a pod of 10 inmates who share a common area, washroom and kitchen, and prepare their own meals.

The board expressed concern about Khawaja’s mental health given that he has been found yelling and swearing while alone in his cell, and has levelled allegations that he was tortured by an outside agency. Khawaja has thus far refused mental health services “so these difficulties could not be properly assessed,” the board noted.

The board said it also found it difficult to assess whether Khawaja’s belief system has fundamentally changed in his almost two decades behind bars.

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“This is in part due to the fact that, during your (parole) hearing, you yourself had a hard time articulating changes in your religious convictions and tended to intellectualize, distance and to speak in vagaries about your beliefs, past and present,” the board told Khawaja.

Khawaja was the first Canadian convicted and sentenced under the country’s new anti-terrorism law, which came into effect three months after the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington.

Prosecutors relied on Khawaja’s voluminous emails to show he was a committed Islamic jihadist who idolized Osama bin Laden, the leader of al-Qaida and the mastermind of the 9/11 attacks.

In one such email, Khawaja praised the Sept. 11 plane hijackers as “effective and honourable” economic jihadists whose actions, if repeated, could bring down the United States, which he said was at war with Islam.

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Justice Douglas Rutherford convicted Khawaja on five terrorism counts, but said there was not enough evidence to prove that he knew his detonator would be used against civilians.

Khawaja was originally sentenced to 10-and-a-half years in prison, but the Court of Appeal for Ontario ruled that penalty unfit, and replaced it with a 24-year sentence.

Meanwhile, in June, Shareef Abdelhaleem, an architect of the “Toronto 18” terrorism plot in 2006, was granted full parole. Abdelhaleem, 47, had been serving a life sentence for his part in the plots to detonate truck bombs in and around Toronto.