[JURIST] Accused terrorist Mohammed Momin Khawaja [CBC backgrounder] pleaded not guilty in an Ottawa court Monday to charges related to an alleged UK bomb plot. Khawaja's lawyer said the allegations were exaggerated and that Monday testimony by former al Qaeda operative Mohammed Babar [BBC report] should be excluded as hearsay. The National Post has more. CTV has additional coverage.

Last year, Canadian Federal Court Judge Richard Mosley refused to require the release of confidential evidence [ruling, PDF; summary, PDF; JURIST report] against Khawaja, explaining that "disclosure of most of the information would be injurious to national security or to international relations." Khawaja was arrested [JURIST report] in March 2004, and was the first to be charged under Canada's post-September 11 Anti-Terrorism Act [text; CBC backgrounder]. He was identified as a co-conspirator in a UK fertilizer bomb terror plot which resulted in life sentences for five British nationals [JURIST report] last year.