Canadian allegedly attended terrorist camp with British bomb plot ringleader

Mohammed Babar, the prosecution's star witness at Momin Khawaja's terrorism trial, testified that he drove the former software designer part of the way to the camp along with Omar Khyam.

Khyam is one of five British Muslims of Pakistani descent who were convicted last year of conspiring to bomb a nightclub, shopping center and electrical and gas facilities in Britain.

Accused: Mohammed Momin Khawaja, centre, in a police vehicle from the courthouse back to jail

Khawaja, a Canadian citizen also of Pakistani descent, is currently facing seven charges in Canada related the plot. The 29-year-old has pleaded not guilty to all charges.

Babar testified that Khawaja spent three or four days at the camp in the summer of 2003, but was "very excited" upon his return that he'd learned to fire an AK-47 assault rifle, a rocket-propelled grenade launcher and a light machine-gun.

Babar also told the Ontario Superior Court in Ottawa Tuesday that Khawaja gave Khyam money he brought from Canada, half of which he said was for charity and half "for the other thing, for the brothers."

Barbar said he understood the remark to mean "that the money was to be used for the operation in the U.K. and Europe as far as explosives go."

The testimony came shortly after the trial judge ruled he would allow more testimony from Babar despite defense arguments that his evidence was hearsay, and that prosecutors were exaggerating Khawaja's terrorist links.

Babar, 33, is a one-time al-Qaida operative turned police informer who gave key testimony at an earlier trial in Britain for the 2004 bomb plot.

Allegations: A court drawing shows Mohamed Babar testifying at the trial of Momin Khawaja in Ottawa

Tight security: A police sniper checks his rifle during the trial of Mohammed Khawaja

Babar has pleaded guilty in the U.S. to charges of aiding al-Qaida and is awaiting sentencing. He is hoping for leniency on the U.S. charges in return for his co-operation.

Earlier, defense attorney Lawrence Greenspon told the court that much of Barbar's testimony, which began Monday, has consisted of unrelated activities that have not been linked to Khawaja.

The apparent aim, said Greenspon, is to "make the U.K. bomb plot much larger and encompass everything."

Greenspon said that the prosecution wants to include other conspiracies in its case that have nothing to do with his client.

"Let's stop mixing apples and alligators," Greenspon said.

Prosecutor Bill Boutzouvis responded that only some of the charges against Khawaja are pinned strictly on the 2004 conspiracy.

Support: Azra and Mahboob Khawaja, parents of Mr Khawaja, leave the Ottawa courthouse

Khawaja also faces charges of helping to finance terrorism and making a house owned by his family in Pakistan available as a terrorist base, which the witness testimony might allude to, said Boutzouvis.

Babar's earlier testimony included claims that Khawaja wanted to go to Afghanistan to fight western forces in 2002, but never made it.

He also said Khawaja made a house in Rawalpindi, Pakistan, available in 2003 for the use of other "brothers" in the jihad movement.

He also said that Khyam had consulted a high-ranking al-Qaida lieutenant, Sheik Abu Munthir, about a strategy for the proposed attacks in Britain and spoke of Khawaja's contact with three men involved in the British 2004 bomb plot.

Although British authorities said Khawaja provided technical help with detonators, they did not charge him.

He was charged in Canada under the Anti-Terrorism Act, which was passed by Parliament as a response to the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks in the United States.

Khawaja was arrested in March 2004 after a raid on his family home in Ottawa, Ontario, recovered electronic equipment, weapons and ammunition.

Police also retrieved a bomb detonator from the home's basement; authorities said it was intended for use in the London bomb attacks.

The trial is expected to take four to six months.