Posted on 03/31/2004 7:59:17 AM PST by Clive
OTTAWA (CP) - An Ottawa man was charged Tuesday with two terrorism-related offences after police raids at his home and office, while shocked family members insisted upon his innocence.
Mohammad Momim Khawaja, 29, was arrested Monday at his workplace and charged with participating in or contributing to the activities of a terrorist group and facilitating terrorist activity, the RCMP said in a release. The charges fall under Canada's anti-terrorism law.
Television reports said the Canadian-born Khawaja, a software developer, worked on contract for the Department of Foreign Affairs.
Qasim Khawaja, Mohammad Momim Khawaja's 26-year-old brother, said there was no evidence of terrorist activities in the home for police to find.
"I guess it's part of someone's sick imagination," he said Tuesday.
"They are looking for something that doesn't exist. They want to fabricate or create it somehow," he said.
"I'm just shocked they would authorize something like this. I would say it's a sad, sad day for Canadian democracy."
Mohammad Momim Khawaja appeared in court Tuesday and was remanded until a video appearance Friday. A publication ban was placed on the proceedings.
The charges state that between Nov. 10, 2003 and Monday, Khawaja was involved in terrorist-related activity in Ottawa and "at or near the City of London, England," the RCMP said in the release.
RCMP officers raided the family home in suburban Orleans on Monday, bashing in the door and searching the premises.
Qasim Khawaja was in the home when RCMP officers arrived.
"I was just watching TV and the door just blew open and guys with guns and masks just told us to get down," Qasim Khawaja said.
"Me and my sister were at home and they tie-wrapped us up."
The RCMP said Qasim Khawaja and his sister were not arrested and were removed from the home "to ensure the integrity of the scene."
However, Qasim Khawaja told reporters that he was questioned for seven or eight hours.
"They were trying to see whether we had any terrorist mentality, stuff like that," he said.
Public Safety Minister Anne McLellan refused to comment on the investigation.
Reports said police think the Ottawa arrest and charges are linked to the arrests of eight men in London on Tuesday, however, other news reports said there was no clear link with the arrests. Police did not return phone calls immediately asking for comment on a possible link.
Police there seized about half a tonne of ammonium nitrate, a frequently used bomb ingredient, in dawn raids by hundreds of officers.
The suspects were picked up in London and towns to the south and west on suspicion of involvement in the "commission, preparation or instigation" of acts of terrorism, London's Metropolitan Police said.
Members of the Khawaja family reported that Mohammad recently travelled to London and Pakistan to visit relatives.
The Ottawa home is owned by Dr. Mahboob A. Khawaja, the author of Muslims and the West, a book about Islamic fundamentalism that analyses global conflicts within the framework of Muslim civilization.
Mahboob Khawaja has also authored several other essays critical of American foreign policy, "corrupt Arab leadership," "American-Zionist political encroachment in the Middle East," and the West's response to terrorism and the war on terror.
He was once listed as a policy adviser and faculty member of International Affairs, Politics and Religions at Syracuse University but is currently in Saudi Arabia where he is the administrator of a polytechnical institute.
Mohammad Momim Khawaja's mother, Azra, was also detained Monday at a grocery store while his 18-year-old brother Mohsin was escorted away from the University of Ottawa where he is a student. Another brother, Tanzeel, 20, was detained when he arrived at the house later in the day.
The family was later released and put up in a hotel Monday night.
Oh yeah, that's right, it's always a "sad, sad day for democracy in Canada" when we bust one of you guys. I swear, these guys have it all scripted, it seems they all say the same thing when they're caught. I have news for you, pal, the Mounties know exactly what they're doing, they don't waste their time on surviellance if the don't have reason to believe you're up to something. They have been policing this country a hell of a lot longer than you've been aroung, buddy.
WOW almost as serious as not having bilingual signs in Ontario or hiring an English speaker in Quebec.
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