TORONTO: A Canadian court increased the sentences Friday for three convicted terrorists and ordered the extradition of two Sri Lankan men facing terrorism-related charges in the US in a series of judgments. The Ontario Court of Appeal raised the sentence of Mohammed Momin Khawaja from 10 1/2 years to life in prison for participating in an Al-Qaeda-inspired plot to bomb British targets in 2004. Khawaja must now serve at least 10 years before being eligible to apply for parole. The 31-year-old Canadian was accused of collaborating with a group of Britons in a thwarted 2004 plot to attack London's Ministry of Sound nightclub, a shopping center and electrical and gas facilities. The suspects were all of Pakistani descent. Khawaja was convicted of five charges under Canada's terrorism laws, including financing training at a camp in Pakistan and providing a house and other assistance to his five conspirators in Britain – all of whom received life sentences after being convicted by a British court. The appellate judges said Friday that the original trial judge who sentenced Khawaja had seriously underestimated his fanaticism and the role model he could become for future suicide bombers. “The trial judge ought to have found that the appellant continues to pose a serious threat to society and is likely to do so for the indefinite future.” Khawaja was the first to be charged and sentenced under Canada's Anti-Terrorism Act, passed after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the United States. In another ruling Friday, two men convicted of participating in a homegrown plot to set off truck bombs outside Canada's main stock exchange and two government buildings also had their sentences raised. The two were ringleaders of the so-called Toronto 18 plot whose goal was to pressure Canada into removing its troops from Afghanistan. Of the 18 men who were arrested in 2006, 11 of them have been convicted and seven had their charges stayed, which means that the government won't proceed with prosecutions. Saad Khalid, a Canadian citizen born to Pakistani parents, had his 14-year sentence increased to 20 years. The sentence for Saad Gaya, born in Canada to Pakistani parents, was raised from 12 years to 18 years. A third plotter, Zakaria Amara, a Jordanian-born Canadian citizen, had appealed his life sentence but that was denied Friday. In two other rulings, the court ordered the extradition of two alleged Sri Lankan terrorists to the United States.
