Canada’s supreme court rejected an appeal by a Canadian serving a life sentence for terrorism, upholding an anti-terrorism law adopted after the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States.
Born in Ottawa to Pakistani parents, Momin Khawaja was sentenced in December 2010 for taking part in the planning of attacks in London that were eventually foiled.
He appealed to the highest court in the country, arguing that the law violated freedom of expression, which is guaranteed under the Canadian bill of rights.
The law defines terrorism activity as an act committed in Canada or abroad that in the name of political, religious or ideological cause or goal.
In a forty page ruling, chief justice Beverley McLachlin concluded that “the purpose of the law does not infringe freedom of expression.”
“The heightened gravity of the terrorism offenses at issue in this case was sufficient to justify imposition of consecutive sentences running over 20 years,” she said.
She rejected the defense’s thesis that the acts attributed to Khawaja, a 33-year-old software developer, were covered by the laws of armed conflict, and governed by international law.
Canada court upholds anti-terrorism law
