Canadian jihadist: “The kuffar [infidels] are treacherous and understand only death and destruction”

A bit of projection there. This guy was plotting to attack civilian targets in London, including possibly a night club and power grids, and he says that unbelievers understand only death and destruction."Khawaja lived for jihad, Crown alleges," by Colin Freeze in the Globe and Mail, June 23 (thanks to the Constantinopolitan Irredentist):

OTTAWA — Mohammad Momin Khawaja thought of little else but holy war, an Ottawa court heard yesterday.

As the trial of the first man charged under Canada's Anti-Terrorism Act got under way four years after police raided his home in the Ottawa suburb of Orleans, the Crown gave a two-hour summary of its case, in which it will present dozens – perhaps hundreds – of intercepted conversations to show that the accused admitted he had a one-track mind. Mr. Khawaja, the court was told, wrote that “that devotion to the effort of jihad is part of me” and said that not a day went by in which he didn't want to join the mujahedeen, or holy warriors.

He also allegedly said, “The kuffar [infidels] are treacherous and understand only death and destruction.”

The Crown alleges Mr. Khawaja, now 29, was involved in a trans-Atlantic conspiracy dating back to two years before his arrest in 2004. It is alleged that he met fellow extremists in London and learned at a training camp in Pakistan how to fire AK-47s and rocket-propelled grenades. He is accused of trying to build a remote-controlled detonation device for a British cell that wanted to attack civilian targets in London, including possibly a night club and power grids.

Prosecutors said yesterday that Mr. Khawaja was so deep into the idea of holy war that even his attempts at marriage foundered after he told a prospective bride she had to understand he was “down with J” – or armed jihad, battles aimed at changing world governments or, at the very least, securing martyrdom for himself.

The Crown also said he was caught wiring funds to terrorist co-conspirators through a female friend selected because, as Mr. Khawaja wrote to her, “sisters don't get caught, brothers, if they send money, they get caught.”

As the charges were read, the soft-spoken Mr. Khawaja, shaven and with long hair parted in the middle, said “not guilty” seven times, responding to each charge against him.

His family is of course playing the race card:

Members of his family, who have frequently accused the RCMP of building a racist case, sat in the courtroom in silence. Counterterrorism experts and international journalists looked on with interest, as the trial promises to provide insight into both radicalization and the incestuous nature of international jihadi schemes....

There is nothing "racist" about not wanting to get blown to bits in a nightclub.

Posted by Robert at June 24, 2008 6:52 AM
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